


Fractured Everglow

by PriestessKhu



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult language (not around the kiddies), Chubby Reader, F/M, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Idk we'll have to see about that one, Lots of new monsters that weren't in the game will be showing up, M/M, Other, Platonic Soulmates, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Potential eventual smut?, Potential timeline shenanigans, Reader Is Not Chara, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader has bipolar depression and anxiety, Reader is human, Romantic Soulmates, Sans is an angst-bucket, Some Adult Humor, Soul Bond, Space and Time Shenanigans, Toriel has a swear jar, Void shenanigans, Void/Space/Time Dad Gaster, We're bringing Gaster back!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2020-11-22 03:56:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 45,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20867801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PriestessKhu/pseuds/PriestessKhu
Summary: After months of torment for being a Monsterkind sympathizer, you finally decide you’ve had more than enough and choose to move—right into Ebott city; the heart of the monster community.You have hopes that this move will be the fresh start to a new chapter in your life. These hopes, however, become overshadowed by long forgotten memories that beg to surface, bringing with them both migraines and brief visions of a hunched black and white figure that only you and a select few can see. The longer you’re around the monsters you’re coming to adore, the more you begin to remember just who the glitchy figure is.A precious not-so-imaginary childhood friend has returned, and you are the only hope of pulling him back into existence without reality or his sanity collapsing in the process.Lucky you, right?





	1. A New Chapter In Life

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I know, ANOTHER story, but I've actually had this one lying around on my netbook for a few years and ended up writing it again when I had time to after the recent tornado blew our huge cedar tree down and knocked out the internet for a week.
> 
> I have most, if not all, of this one planned out. It's just a matter of getting my shit straight and writing for all of my stories consistently. I need to learn to stop abusing italics, too. Oops.
> 
> I'm going to try to not use gender-specific pronouns so more people can be included in the Space/Time/Void Dad love :)
> 
> Theme for this story is mainly Starset's song Everglow.
> 
> (Does anyone even read Undertale stuff anymore...?)

Humans. _Sucked_.

Like. Really, _really_ sucked. And were in dire need of a reality check with a two-by-four upside the head. Or shoved up their ass. You weren’t particularly picky about the delivery of a swift _‘__W__hat __t__he fuck is wrong with you!?’_ whack. All you knew was that you hated humanity with all of the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.

...Okay, not _all_ of humanity.

You considered yourself to be a relatively decent person, and you’d met a lot of others that were absolute angels. Ever since monsterkind emerged from beneath Mt. Ebott, however, it was hard to see the good in your own race. Not when over half of the human population were either against monsters living among the general populace, or just wanted to nuke the Mt. Ebott and Ebott City area.

There was even a pastor that tried to convince you that the monsters were actually Lucifer and his legion that had clawed their way up from the depths of hell. You couldn’t keep from laughing hysterically at how serious he was about it. That was the start of the issue of damn near everyone in your town being out for your head.

Proverbially, of course. For the time being.

It was all because you refused to agree with any of their reasons for hating the monsters. You actually quite enjoyed the idea of having monsterkind becoming a part of everyday society. Even elected as political officials, if they ever got out as far as you were. It would be an improvement from the imbecile currently holding the position of mayor in your town. The change would be _greatly_ welcomed.

Despite the backlash, you were sure to make it known to those in your community that you didn’t think the monsters were anything to be afraid of.

You’d seen the news coverage on the ‘incident’ in which the first thing the monster did was come down the mountain to introduce themselves and ask how much surface real estate was available. Half the city of Ebott ran screaming for the nearest border when they realized that monsterkind was planning on staying.

There were also the online videos you watched every now and again that showed the adorable human child that was an _incredibly_ effective Ambassador during the human and monster peace meetings that were still going on. Most adults couldn’t win against the kid’s charm and reasonable logic, which you always found amusing.

As weeks turned into months, the entire world was honed in on the newly surfaced monster community. You had plenty of material to come to the simple conclusion that the monsters were just regular folks, thanks to all of the coverage they kept getting.

You didn’t know any monsters well enough to be guaranteed that one wouldn’t jump you in a back alley. Still, you highly doubted that such an encounter would be for dubious reasons other than forcing you to be part of a show with the only television host of the monster world.

That or holding you at disposable camerapoint in order to get you take copious amounts of pictures of them striking dorky poses in front of tasteful graffiti—as one poor little old lady had the joy of doing for a pair of monsters within the first week of their arrival topside. One of the rapscallions allegedly stole the ketchup she’d shuffled down to the corner store to pick up for an ingredient in her supper that night.

What you _did _know was that the monsters were genuinely trying to get along with humans. They just wanted to be accepted here, above ground. You were more than willing to give them a chance.

Others in your community were disgusted by your openness. You tried to ignore it, of course, but...

After months of your apartment being egged and TP-ed, the last straw came when your front door was spray-painted with creative slander the likes of which the mortal world had never _seen_ before (‘monster fucker’? _Really?_). The boy gloating about it right where he knew you would hear? Extra straw of _oh __**hell**__ no_. You were _done_ with this bullshit.

Now, granted, you _probably_ shouldn’t have gone to Linda and told her to shove her hell spawn of a spray-painting son back up into her diseased womb when she refused to believe the little twat was the culprit. You were far too strung out to bother filtering yourself. Linda had always needlessly been a bitch to you anyway and, anxiety be damned, you let her know it.

Unfortunately, the problem of the majority of the anti-monster racists in your community was growing. It was passive aggressive now, but you wouldn’t doubt if they rallied together into a lynch mob to take out you and the handful of fellow monster sympathizers in your town.

You could only think to do one thing at that point: move.

_Right to the small urban city at the foot of Mt. Ebott_.

The property values had plummeted after the monsters moved up from underground, so the prices there were surprisingly affordable to even you and what money you got from selling your crafted wares online. The thought of moving so easily amazed you and terrified many others. This was especially true when you, while taking a short break at a local cafe and ignoring parents ushering their curious children away from your table, openly Skyped a number of monsters that were offering houses or apartments.

Most of the places you were looking at were at reasonable renting prices and some of the monsters you conversed with were willing to do virtual walk-throughs of the properties. Once you explained to them how that last part worked, anyway.

As you had originally suspected, the monsters that you talked to were all very kind. Awkward with some human customs and the more modern technology, sure, but so were you. When your two best friends completely supported and aided you in your decision over the long distances between you, that made things about the move all the better.

And while the process to get everything in order was a long one—meaning dealing with more hatred pointed in your direction, of which your war veteran neighbor dealt with after someone egged his door by accident—you were finding that you were feeling really good about it all. Yes, your anxiety was continuing to plague you, but you were happier than you had been in a long time. Moving away from this hellhole felt _right_.

It felt so right to you, in fact, that you happily hired a small group of movers to deal with what few boxes and furniture you had. The movers were all dog monsters that only wanted to be paid in dog treats and belly rubs.

Dog treats.

And _belly rubs_.

_ **How could anyone pass up a deal like that!?** _

They seemed wary at first, given all of the dirty looks given to them by 99.9% of the other humans occupying the apartment complex. You felt guilty and couldn’t blame them for their unease, but were quick to let them know that every single one of those humans was just one more reason you were moving out of that town. That, on top of you not treating them like they were some ancient blight, brought an easy friendship between you and the moving crew over the few hours you spent with them.

Just the amount of dog jokes they made during their work had you laughing so hard you were pretty sure you died for a few seconds from the lack of oxygen. It was hard not to be swept up by their warm energy and kindness, and despite being an introvert, you loved that.

The discount from all of the extra belly rubs, ear scratches, and milk-bone dog biscuits you treated them to was a bonus despite the fact you insisting that they didn’t have to do something like that for you. They insisted that they _did,_ and you found yourself with several new numbers on your phone; all with varying silly contact photos. You were also made to promise that you’d go out to eat with your new monster friends once you were settled into Ebott City.

With your usual unease when it came to any sort of change in your life, you sent nearly all of your worldly goods ahead of you by a full day. You would have eagerly gone with your first ever monster buddies, but knew that there were still a few things that needed to be done before you moved on from this town.

You’d been planning things for months, never telling anyone that bothered to ask just _when _you were leaving, and when you saw that the only bus willing to go all the way to Ebott City left just before sunrise on a Saturday?

_Vengeance was imminent_.

Yes, your actions could be conceived as petty or spiteful and, _yes_, it wasn’t necessary to exact your bizarre brand of revenge on anyone, but you frankly didn’t care. At all, really. Not after all of the crap you’d been dealing with for almost half a freaking year now.

Nevertheless, despite the mostly pent up ire simmering at the core of your very being, you weren’t going to hurt anyone. Pain and revenge didn’t go hand in hand to you due to certain aspects of your life thus far. It was true that you found amusement in the misfortune brought onto insensitive idiots by karma herself, but who didn’t?

The point was, you never got back at someone by inflicting mental or physical pain. Horror and_ disgust_, however...

If there was one thing in life that you truly excelled at, it was unnerving people. You usually could pull it off with just making offhand remarks or randomly breaking out into song, but this night? This night was going to be different.

...Or this morning, given that it was some time after two a.m. when you last checked your phone. You were an insomniac by nature and were currently using that to your advantage as you stood in front of the door of none other than Linda the bitch.

She and her son had been two of the biggest problems that refused to let up in tormenting you, so you’d planned a little personalized farewell gift for them. You had to make sure that it wasn’t anything _too_ over the top. Just something you knew would make her freak out. It was a little disappointing that you wouldn’t get to see her face when she open her front door later that day to find an—_unused_—mushroom-shaped butt plug superglued to her front door as the nose of a large smiley face.

A smiley face that had nipple tassels for eyes and the thinnest matching g-string you could find for the mouth. Not to mention that they were all glowing brightly in the dark thanks to the neon green glow-in-the-dark paint you’d applied to them. Having sat them directly beneath a lamp for two days straight really helped give them a startling glow.

Imagining her look of utter shock and revulsion would just have to do. You were also thankful that the owner of the apartment complex didn’t take applications for families that had children under the age of sixteen. She didn’t like kids and just _barely_ tolerated teenagers, but that meant you knew that you wouldn’t be mentally scarring any children for life with this one.

Ah, but time was far too short and you still had something else to do before you headed to the bus station and said goodbye to this shitty little town for good. You couldn’t resist taking a picture of your newest masterpiece and left the apartment complex for the last time.

It was mostly for the sake of cheering yourself up whenever you hit one of your usual depressive states. Manic depression was a pain, but your own childishness somehow kept you from drowning in it completely when you weren’t able to talk to either of your best friends. You had dog monster friends now too, though, so maybe you wouldn’t need to scroll through all of the ridiculous pictures in your phone for a few weeks!

Oh, who were you kidding? You’d be giggling about the glow-in-the-dark nipple tassels all the way to Ebott City.

All the way to your next destination as well, apparently.

You couldn’t stop your shoulders from shaking with barely-restrained laughter as you walked the short distance out of town to the home of the massive hillside letter. Nocturnal wildlife skittered by as you made your way up and initiated your second half of operation _Adios Bitchachos._

There wasn’t much time left, so you had to hurry. Thankfully the moon was out to aid in lighting your movements just enough for you to see. Using a flashlight or the assistive light on your phone might alert any law enforcement to your delinquent activities. You weren’t about to miss your bus to a new start in life just because you carelessly let yourself get _caught_.

Hopefully the changing positions of the white painted stones weren’t too visible from a distance. That thought caused you to work faster. You only stopped to catch your breath once you were finished and stepped back down the hill a bit to look at your handiwork. One hand wiped the sweat from your brow as you did so.

The results weren’t _perfect_, but it would have to do. You were just about out of time.

You turned around to start your trek back down the hill and found yourself stopping again to peer out across the sleeping town below.

There were very few lights on at this time of the early morning. The business lights were still on as usual, as were the handful of street lights and vehicles of the early risers that had to be at work before five. You preferred the town like this.

The serenity of the night brought the cruelty of the world to a standstill, if only for a few hours. The lights also didn’t interfere too much with anyone who wanted to watch the stars. The town below actually almost resembled the sky above from this distance, but it could never compare to the beauty what you saw when you angled your head up.

Pinpricks that twinkled in hues of whites and yellows and reds and blues; a sight you never got tired of. You’d loved the stars for as long as you could remember. They filled you with such peace and even a little bit of nostalgia.

Nostalgia about what, you didn’t quite know. It was probably your mind bringing back all of the times you’d try to find certain stars with a large map of constellations and a cheap telescope when you were a kid.

It would be better if the moon wasn’t out. You would have been able to see Orion better.

“_Ah, so th__at__ constellation is known as Orion here as well? __The percentile of consistency for this particular aspect, like many others,__ never ceases to amaze me no matter how often I come across it. __Although...__”_

“_What’s the matter? You look really sad.”_

“_Nothing you need to be concerned about, little light. A story for another time. Now, what is this one called?”_

“_That’s the Big Dipper! It should be...right over there! Wanna see?”_

Faded voices bubbled up from the recesses of your mind, what felt like a memory that brought a flutter deep in your chest and shiver up your spine. It also brought a sharp stab to the inside of your skull. A headache was approaching, and you hissed through clenched teeth in your pain when it lingered for a few moments before dissipating unusually fast.

“Weird,” You muttered while rubbing your right temple and pulling out your phone to check the time.

As worrying as the brief headache was, you couldn’t let it get to you right now. There was a bus to catch and you opted for sprinted down the hillside and back into town. Your satchel bounced against your hip with each step closer to your ticket to a new chapter in your life, the imageless memory and headache fading away from all recollection.

You were boarding the only bus that would go all the way to Ebott City before you even knew it. It was a bit unusual, as there would be no changing buses mid-trip just to reach your destination, but you didn’t mind.

The bus had a realistic wooden pattern to the lower half of the outside of it that made it look like some sort of covered rowboat on wheels and the driver was wrapped tightly in a purple hooded cloak. As strange at it might have seemed at first (did you just imagine a _dog face_ on the grill...?), none of this came off as threatening to you. You’d moved by yourself once before now and nothing too horrible happened during _that_ move.

This wasn’t anything different to back then. You just had to sit tight, pray that you didn’t get assholes for neighbors, monster or otherwise, and try not to let your depression or anxiety turn all of this into a disaster before you even reached your destination.

Though the fact you found yourself to be one of only two passengers on the bus wasn’t really helping with the anxiety portion of things. Not with your messed up head.

The other passenger was seated at the back of the bus. They were pretty small in stature and had their hood pulled up over their head while they lay hunched over in their unreclined seat. Your heart’s beat stuttered briefly when your brain decided to be helpful and inform you that this other person looked dead.

A sudden snort from the distant lump of blue hoodie as they wiggled around to get a bit more comfortable let you know that whoever it was was, in fact, _not_ dead. Thus, you could continue with no more worries. _You hoped_.

“Tra la la,” The driver sang cheerily while you took one of the seats at the front of the bus. “What a wonderful day it is. Don’t you think?”

You realized that they were talking to you as you let your bag rest heavy in your lap and paused to think about their words. A wonderful day, huh? “I guess so...but it’ll turn into an absolutely _fantastic_ day once we get out of this place.”

“Tra la la, how could a day like this get any better than it already is?” The driver asked, yet didn’t look at you. They were too busy closing the bus door and starting the journey to your new home. A home that had to be better than _this_ horrid town.

“After the last few months I’ve just had to tolerate here?” You snorted, “Very, _very _easily.” You leaned against your bag a little protectively for no reason in particular. It had everything you needed should something happen with the moving truck, and you could feel both your medication and the little trinkets you cared far too much about to be willing to travel away from you in some box.

“How fascinating. Hum hum hum~” The small talk ended with the driver humming to themselves. The ‘_NOW LEAVING_’ sign to the town passed by surprisingly quickly, and you took the opportunity to flip it off with a vengeance while you turned in your seat. With _both_ hands.

Off in the distance, you could see the first rays of sunrise beginning to illuminate the form of a large hand that had taken the place of the hillside letter. It was blatantly flipping off the entire town on your behalf, despite the simplicity of the design you were forced to place the rocks in. You couldn’t help but grin to yourself as a sense of contentment washed over you at the sight.

Farewell and good _fucking_ riddance.

You’d started turning back towards the front of the bus with that same grin still on your lips, but something had caught your eye before you could turn all the way forward and get settled again. In fact, what had suddenly snatched your attention in the first place made you do a double take so hard that you damn near gave yourself whiplash.

In the back of the bus, lingering in the isle just beside the snoozing passenger, was some sort of transparent black mass. It had something white near the top where a head would be if it was a person, but you couldn’t get a proper look at what ever this thing was. It was there just long enough for you to make out an eerily familiar shape before fading away. Well...more like _glitching_ away, as if it were made out of nothing more than pixels.

You also _really_ hoped that the white head-like bit hadn’t actually turned to you at the last millisecond. As a form of comfort, praying that you weren’t finally losing what little sanity you had left, your hand instinctually raised to grasp the labradorite pendant you always wore. It was a small crystal skull that had been turned into a bead some time before you bought it, but it was your most cherished belonging out of all of the skull-shaped things you had a tendency to hoard like a dragon.

“Tra la la.” The driver caught your attention once more. Not because of the singing, but due to how..._serious_ the tone of it was. It was almost grim, really. Like a funeral march. An omen. “Tra la la. The waters are wild today. That’s bad luck...”

Well _that_ wasn’t ominous.

“Tra la la. Beware of the man who speaks in hands,” They added.

Aaaaand that was even worse than the first bit. No sleep for _you_ anytime soon.

Which, effectively, made the first leg of the trip feel like an eternity stuck in a purgatory of uninteresting landscapes and sketchy bus and truck stops. The trip to Ebott City was supposed to be twenty-three hours of driving. You thanked any gods amongst the cosmos that might be listening that you had remembered to put all of that new music on your phone.

You also were still concerned that the person sleeping at the back of the bus was sick or dying because they hadn’t woken up _once_ so far. Not at any rest stops, not for any food (hello Subway, you expensive but beautiful beast), and not even for the herd of elk the bus had to stop for in order to let them pass safely. Maybe the snoring hoodie lump was in a coma...? Could people in comas even _snore_ like that?

Well, that wasn’t really any of your business unless something bad happened and you had to rescue the unconscious being. Which you would. Probably without even thinking about it, actually. Not that that was a bad thing.

Exhaustion had been gnawing at your senses for _hours_ by the time night engulfed the sky once more. Vehicle rides always tended to make you sleepy to begin with, so it was by some miracle that you’d managed to stay awake as long as you had up until this point. The mass amounts of soda you’d bought at each stop probably had a hand in the matter.

Your body couldn’t keep up with the sugar intake after six straight hours of your soda addiction and was giving you the signs of your inevitable crash. You were beginning to have audio hallucinations of what sort of sounded like murmuring. The driver never really stopped singing to themselves and the creature from the winter wardrobe in the back was relentlessly snoring the trip away, so that’s what it must have been.

Hearing your cell phone going off when you could clearly see that no one was calling you solidified the fact that you were fast approaching a precipice that could either lead to eighteen hours of sleep all at once, or a bout of insomnia so horrid that audio hallucinations would be the _least_ of your problems. You had to act fairly quickly.

The need for sleep won out on this one.

You took your medicine despite it being a little earlier that usual and located what you were amazed to find was a power outlet. That meant you didn’t have to worry about your phone dying while you were asleep.

Still, you kept one earbud out just to remain mostly aware of your surroundings. You doubted that you would be resting soundly in an unfamiliar setting, shifting around in your seat anyway. It felt better when it wasn’t in a reclining position, but still took a few tries to get comfortable in order for the waves of slumber to begin washing over you. The last thing you can make out before sleep finally submerged you is a few lyrics of Starset’s _Everglow_.

_(—You come in waves_  
‘_Til you’re all I know_  
_Then you fade away_  
_ Into nothing—)_

The dream that came upon you had the same setting as many you’ve had in your life.

Tasteless tiles, plush carpet, tacky old furniture...most of your childhood was spent here, in your grandparents’ home. It was always your favorite out of every place you’d been when growing up. It’s probably why you dreamt of it so often, be it a normal dream or borderline nightmare. Sometimes even memories would surface here.

This time could be any of those things. It was hard to tell since the house was dark, save for the single weakened light of the small hallway outside of your bedroom beside the guest bath and bedroom. There was also the laundry room that led out into the garage on that side of the house.

You were stood just outside of that little area, in the kitchen. Night was all that could be seen from beyond the window curtains, not that you bothered looking. You really didn’t know what you were doing there in the first place, as you weren’t thirsty or in need of using the toilet. You didn’t need your grandmother hearing you up and about this late or you’d be scolded into next week. Going back to bed would be the wisest choice of action.

The allure of the large living room, however, seemed far too great. The fish tank was in there, although it was right in front of your grandparents’ bedroom.

Your small—child?—feet padded softly against the rust colored tiles as you crept your way through the kitchen and most of the dining room. You’d almost reached the thick plains of carpet, heard the bubbling of the fish tank just around the corner, when your eyes were suddenly covered by something from behind. This drew a soft, startled squeak from your lips.

“_Guess who?__”_

The voice soothed you instantaneously when it wrapped around your senses like warm honey. You knew this voice, though never heard it with your ears. It was always barely above a whisper, a mere murmur within your mind like a babbling brook in the depths of a forest. You couldn’t help but giggle each time the words would fill your head because it always tingled like soda bubbles.

Pulling the hands away from your face made the fingers—bone white, practically skeletal—uncover your eyes. You were right in front of the pantry, but you couldn’t see anything through the unusually dark shadows that were attached to the hands you continued to hold. They looked as if they were wispy at the ends, as if they might be made out of smoke.

“I always know it’s you G̷̡̛̛̛̲̳̜͇͍̫͕̑̈́̑̂̒̐̎̎̿̿͑̍͌̀͗̓̓͗̓̿̉͌̓̃͑͘͘͝͝͠͠͝ả̸̡̫̟̦̲̪̤͙̻͚͚̮̼̬̱̆͛͗͜͝ͅs̶̡̞̦̪͖̟̗͕̭͈͈̬͓̳͕͙̲̙̬̟̺̗̲̭̩̖̥͇̭͓̫̣͕͙͖̩͆͗̍̎͂̎̅̿̄̓̉̅̂̍̒̑̈́́̕̚̕̕͝͝t̸̨̧̺̲̤͉̜̜̫̥̙͈̳̱͙̻̼̥̱͙̰͖̝̲̩̫̞̜̗͚̗̲̝͈͈̿́͊̅̿̈͐̎͛̑̚͜e̵̛͉̬̣̰̻̯͈͖̭̘̝̭̦͈͋̂̍̓̃̎̃͊͛̍̒̓̎͌̔͑͋̚͝r̸̢̧̢̡̖͉͉̤̹͖̰̯͕͔̠͖͔̺̹̳̣̪̗͚͇͙̝̆̓͂̋̾̆̊̀͂̕̕͜!̴̢̡̣̰͔͕͚͚̜̮̗͓͔̣̳̺̩̹͇̂̔̈̿̚ͅͅͅ” You tittered out a name, one you somehow couldn’t quite hear yourself saying, and grinned up at whoever owned those cold hands. Yes...chilled hands that barely felt like they were there, warm words that embraced all your senses...

Why couldn’t you see their face...?

“_Shouldn’t you be in bed, little one?”_ The voice tickled against the inside of your head with the words while the hands released yours to make movements where you could see them. Sign language of some sort, something unknown and otherworldly, but you weren’t sure if you knew that’s what it might be when you were that young. The dancing hands had a large hole through each of their palms, yet you weren’t bothered by them.

A small pout overtook your smile and you felt a little ashamed as you looked down at your feet. It wasn’t a _caught-with-your-hand-in-the-cookie-jar_ kind of ashamed. No, nothing of that sort, but it was something you felt often; even as a child. You _hated_ feeling like this, and yet could never quite escape it.

“_Trouble sleeping again?”_ The voice asked as the hands moved to mirror the words within your mind. Shifting on your feet, you could only give a tiny nod and felt a knowing hum against your thoughts. “_Ahh, I see.__”_

You began to fumble with the end of the massively large t-shirt that you were made to wear as night clothes back then. “I’m sorry...”

“_You needn’t apologize,”_ You were gently assured, _“__It is a common occurrence in many living organisms that require a rest cycle in order to maintain optimal functionality. It is harder for some to slumber than it is for others. You mustn’t be ashamed for it.__”_

“But granny will be mad when she finds out,” Was your meek reply. You loved your grandmother, yes, but every adult was scary when they were upset with you. That made you want to keep them as happy as you could. Unfortunately, apologizing didn’t always work...

The ghost-like touch of a hand running over your head affectionately made you look up. There was still no face within that void of shadows, but it somehow felt as if whoever was there was smiling at you. “_Then it would be best that_ _she does not_ _learn of this, correct?__”_

“Uh-huh,” You readily agreed. If the owner of the hands didn’t want your grandma to know that you were up and about, then she probably wouldn’t. It made you happy that your friend was so kind.

..._F__riend_?

They were your friend?

Yes. Yes, you remembered now; the hands and shadows belong to a very _very_ dear friend. What was their name again...?

“_Come. I shall tuck you back into_ _bed and remain_ _with you until you fall asleep.”_ Your faceless companion offered one of their hands for you to eagerly grasp. Your tiny fingers were careful not to poke into the hole that was almost the size of your own hand as you held on tightly. It was strange to hold your friend’s hand. The coldness within your grasp had a strange feeling, as if there was barely any solidity to the being beside you, but this was nothing new.

“Will you tell me a story?” You asked as the lump of shadows began to glide out into the faint light to lead you back to your bed. The hazy yellow light never penetrated the inky depths of their body.

Your friend’s soft laughter trickled across your senses beautifully and you silently pondered on why that was. “_But of course, my darling_ _light. I shall regale you with any tale you desire.__”_

“Yaaay! Thank you, G̷̡̛̛̛̲̳̜͇͍̫͕̑̈́̑̂̒̐̎̎̿̿͑̍͌̀͗̓̓͗̓̿̉͌̓̃͑͘͘͝͝͠͠͝ả̸̡̫̟̦̲̪̤͙̻͚͚̮̼̬̱̆͛͗͜͝ͅs̶̡̞̦̪͖̟̗͕̭͈͈̬͓̳͕͙̲̙̬̟̺̗̲̭̩̖̥͇̭͓̫̣͕͙͖̩͆͗̍̎͂̎̅̿̄̓̉̅̂̍̒̑̈́́̕̚̕̕͝͝t̸̨̧̺̲̤͉̜̜̫̥̙͈̳̱͙̻̼̥̱͙̰͖̝̲̩̫̞̜̗͚̗̲̝͈͈̿́͊̅̿̈͐̎͛̑̚͜e̵̛͉̬̣̰̻̯͈͖̭̘̝̭̦͈͋̂̍̓̃̎̃͊͛̍̒̓̎͌̔͑͋̚͝r̸̢̧̢̡̖͉͉̤̹͖̰̯͕͔̠͖͔̺̹̳̣̪̗͚͇͙̝̆̓͂̋̾̆̊̀͂̕̕͜!̴̢̡̣̰͔͕͚͚̜̮̗͓͔̣̳̺̩̹͇̂̔̈̿̚ͅͅͅ” You, once again, couldn’t hear the name leaving your lips. You couldn’t remember what it even was. Still, you felt safe here. Safe with this friend of yours. It was a sense of safety that you didn’t even know you could experience, let alone in a dream.

Did that mean that this was actually a memory...?

It was possible. In the waking world of a damaged childhood, coupled with the horrors of being an adult, something as simple as this would easily be lost to time.

But such adult things were chased from your mind when a skeletal finger lightly poked the end of your nose. You had to scrunch up your face at that, due to the phantom touch feeling so weird, and bubbled with childish laughter.

“_Hush now. We mustn’t be too loud.”_ Your nose was poked once more.

You were going to accuse your friend for making you laugh like that on purpose, but the words stopped short when you realized there was no hand holding yours anymore. In fact, your friend’s entire presence was just..._gone_.

Their name left your lips, a ringing in your ears drowning out the vowels as dread made your little heart hammer within your chest. Frantically, you began to run all around the house in a desperate, terrified search for your missing friend. You didn’t care if any of the adults heard you and woke up now, because your games of hide and seek never started like this. _No_ game you played ever started like this.

Your friend wasn’t in the pantry, under any of the sinks, the kitchen table, behind the fish tank, or even the space under your bed. You couldn’t find them anywhere, and they weren’t responding to your cries. They _always_ responded to your cries...!

Alone and afraid, unable to think of anything to do, you slid to your bedroom floor and inhaled deep before—

The hissing of brakes and lurch of the bus as it came to a halt caused you to bolt upright in your seat. Your chest ached as your heart hammered within, throat dry and scratchy, and your eyes...stung? Yes, they were stinging. Not too badly, but you realized it was from a few tears that were clinging to your lashes.

You were quick to lift a hand and brush the mostly unshed tears away as you muttered to yourself. “Haven’t done _that_ in a while...”

“Tra la la. Dreaming of old friends?” The driver’s sudden question made you jump with a small gasp. You almost felt like a deer in the headlights, yet didn’t get much time to answer. “Although friends should never make friends so sad that they cry, some things just happen in life...tri li li.”

_Tri li li...?_

...Nope.

Not awake enough for any of this to process properly in your mind.

“We’re at another stop?” You ask groggily and made sure that your labradorite skull necklace was in its proper place near your heart. Stretching once that was taken care of, you got your back to pop and a soft grunt tickled the back of your throat at how good it felt.

The bus was parked at a truck stop’s pumps, the driver turning it off before hopping down from their seat and responding to you. “Tra la la, oh yes. You slept through two other stops, but Sans said to simply let you sleep as long as you needed. Very kind of him.”

‘Sans’?

Oh, right. Snoring hoodie person in the back of the bus. That must be their name.

Unless...

Popping your head up over the seat to look about the bus, you took note of there not being any passengers that weren’t there when you nodded off. So, by process of elimination, Sans _had_ to be the other passenger’s name. An interesting name, too. Sounded like the font.

And, hey, if they got up some time while you were out, then they weren’t in a coma. Good for them _and_ your lingering anxiety that they might die on this trip!

Taking the opportunity of the brief stop, after checking that every item in your bag was untouched, you restocked on soda and a few smaller snacks to sate the warning twinges of a junk food craving.

The driver’s words about dreaming of an old friend refused to leave your mind the entire time. Even as you reboarded the bus, noting the first light of sunrise creeping across the sky, you just couldn’t let it go.

_Had_ you been dreaming of a friend? The question would have been easier to answer if you could actually remember what your dream was about. Most of the dream had already been whisked away by your time spent awake. The only choppy details you could recall were being in your grandparents’ house at night and something to do with something or some_one_ in the darkness...

It could have been that dream where you had to avoid an old banshee hag long enough to outwit her by hiding in your grandparents’ shower. That, or...

Oh, _fuck_, it better not have been that ridiculous nightmare about being chased by the freaking massive antique wind-up toy monkey with cymbals again. You’d never seen one in person growing up, so why the hell would that even be a thing for you in the first place!?

The nagging need to try and remember anything important from your dream went on for quite some time. You knew you were overthinking about something small, as you often didn’t remember every little detail of your dreams anyway. There was just something that your brain was desperate in not allowing the attempted recollection of missing information to drift from your attention.

Yet, unfortunately, it had to; at least for the time being. There were a couple of things you felt needed to be done now that you were less than an hour away from Ebott City.

The landlord of the small apartment you’d settled on renting knew that you were going to be showing up that day. You brought all of the paperwork they asked you to, which you made certain of quite a number of times before you ever got onto the bus in the first place, as well as during your trip so far. You also were sure to arrange to call them and the movers once you reached the city.

As anxiety-based paranoia dictated, you ended up leafing through the required papers for what felt like the millionth time in the past forty-eight hours. You also triple checked the cash in the envelope you’d kept hidden at the bottom of your bag beneath an unused seven inch glow-in-the-dark dildo. It wasn’t exactly _necessary_, but you’d learned that such a thing was quite useful in multiple situations when it came to deterring any potential thieves in your life.

The map you printed out in order to find your way to the apartment from the bus station was also looked over many a time in an attempt to somehow burn the information into your very eyeballs.

It wasn’t too far to walk from point A to point B. That meant that everything, for you, was in decent order.

Which was saying something, given your habit of having a messy sense of organization on top of being notorious for forgetting about things. However, as you didn’t want to royally screw this up, you ended up checking everything over and over again.

While some might consider it as having a manic episode, you preferred to think of it as the determination to ensure that you hadn’t unintentionally messed something up. After all, not entirely trusting your capabilities as a functional adult when it came to this sort of thing was what barely saved your sorry ass during your _last_ move.

And luckily, it made an hour go by in what felt like a mere handful of minutes.

It took the sun reflecting against a corner of the Ebott City limits sign to wrench your attention away from your fretting. It was large and would have been magnificent, if it wasn’t for all of the slander that had either been spray-painted or scratched upon the surface. Most were jumbled within the mix of obnoxiously colored scribbles, but one stood out well enough to read.

**MAKE EARTH HUMAN AGAIN**

Your stomach churned in a toxic mixture of disgust and guilt. Disgust because of fucking _course_ some asshole human would feel the need to write something like this, and guilt because _you_ were human. You chanced an uneasy glance towards the driver.

They didn’t seem at all bothered by the sign as it passed and simply sung softly to themselves, just as they’d done most, if not the entirety, of the trip. Slumping in your seat as the bus entered a tunnel, you silently hoped that monsters would be able to look past the barefaced racism and see that not _all_ humans were going to be horrible to them.

Because you knew for a fact that there were good human beings out there who would be _more_ than happy to share the planet with monsterkind. Granted, you were all outnumbered by the unbelievably self-entitled and negative side of humanity, but you still existed.

You’d turned your head towards the driver with the sudden need to start a conversation and keep from overthinking yourself into an anxiety attack. Instead of speaking, however, you were forced to keep your silence and stare in shock. Not at the driver themselves, but at the black mass hunched beside them. The same thing you thought you saw when you got on the bus yesterday and _oh shit, oh_ _fuck, the __hazy_ _white bit at the top_ _was_ _most certainly a head __and it_ _was turning toward you, shit shit shit __**shit**_**_—_**

The thing was quick to vanished in the same glitched manner as before, making your mind go from, '_oh dear stars that thing might kill me...!'_ to, '_did it seriously pop into existence just to scare the ever loving __**fuck**_ _out of me, only to glitch_ _itself away before I could start screaming!?'_

You honestly didn’t know whether to be relieved or not.

On the one hand, you could write this off as a result of stressing yourself out and vow to never tell _anyone_ that your first fight or flight instinct was the urge to kick your sandal across a bus at the offending misinterpretation of shadows.

On the other hand, you could sit and stew on the fact that you might _actually_ be losing your mind like a number of your relatives and if that could get you VIP status at the nearest mental institution.

“Tra la la. So close, and yet so far...” The driver’s voice disturbed your mental weighing of options and you reflexively jolted in your seat with a sharp and rather painful gasp. You could only purse your lips faintly at the driver a second later, though it wasn’t out of anger. Their words were probably just random musings muttered to themselves, because _everyone_ muttered to themselves at least once in their life, but with what you’d been experiencing on the bus twice so far? _It_ _wasn’t helping_ _right now._

The anxiety that plagued your life had been kept mostly under wraps during the trip until that point. Now, however, you couldn’t seem to stop your heart from its frantic attempts at an escape from the depths of your rib cage. Your breathing was getting harder to control as the seconds ticked by.

Wrapping quivering fingers around the dainty stone skull resting close to your racing heart, you closed your eyes. The lukewarm pendant was your focal point as you began to gradually slow your breathing. You had to focus on anything that _wasn’t_ the need to go into meltdown. Too bad your brain was taking both of the weird glitchy blob thingy sightings and running with it for _miles_.

_Here I thought I’d be hearing the voices first. Who knew insanity started with blobs that glitched in and out of existence like we were in the matrix?_ Your thoughts unhelpfully mused. It made you twitch even while you tried to ignore it.

Focus on the smooth surface of your crystal skull, on how each inhale and exhale of breath that passed through your lips brought a calm that would help to clear your mind...

_I haven’t watched those movies in ages. I should marathon it on my tablet later...if they haven’t locked me up by then, anyway_, Your mind continued to be a nuisance. While a movie marathon was a good idea for relaxing after you were all settled into your new home, that certainly wasn’t fucking helping _brain!_

Oh yes, seeing things that clearly weren’t even _remotely_ something that should be on your plane of existence—because spirits did _not _look like that—was bordering on crazy to you, yet mentally screaming at your own grey matter wasn’t. The small reminder of how strange a person you could be made you smile softly.

_There, _that was it. Keep that positive feeling.

You weren’t losing the rest of your proverbial marbles, there wasn’t anyone other than you thinking so, and you weren’t going to let anxiety get the best of you right now. Be still your heart, be silent your mind, be as steady and as sure as a moonless night.

“_Oh, you mustn’t fear such moonless nights, my dear. The stars have not left you.__”_

Something, no, some_one__’s_ voice filled your head with the familiar sensation of being from a distant memory. It was a sense déjà vu, but not? You couldn’t really explain it with words.

You couldn’t place who the voice could have possibly belonged to, but it made cool tingles dance along your spine and a pleasantly bizarre thrumming sensation somewhere within your chest. There was trust in the owner of this voice.

Was it really a voice, though?

You didn’t know what made you think that last bit, but clung to that feeling of trust and forgot all about your anxiety as your curiosity made you shift gears. You had to reach inside of your memories for anything else you could remember of the person. Someone from your childhood, you guessed, but they didn’t sound like any of the relatives you knew. A friend of the family, maybe? There were plenty of those...

“_Although you cannot always see it, there are some stars that even the most stygian of voids cannot extinguish.__”_ The tingling returned and you shuddered as it washed over you in waves. It felt pleasant. It felt _safe_. You needed to experience more of it, to unearth the face that accompanied the voice that caused this comforting, pulsing glow of warmth to blossom within your chest. In order to do that, you had to cut deeper into the shadows. Deeper into the darkness that was your—

“Ow, _fuck_,” You hissed under your breath as one hand flew up to grip your head when pain began assaulting your poor skull from the inside out. Great, just what you needed. A migraine on top of...on top of...

...What had you just been doing?

Your thoughts felt a little fuzzy and the last few moments of your life seemed...emptier than they should have. Did you miss something? You couldn’t have passed out, could you?

Wait. _Passed out?_

Oh, right! You were trying to keep your anxiety from spiking to a level that would leave you far too exhausted to recover from, let alone continue functioning well enough to deal with everything involved in securing your new apartment. Your attempts seemed to have worked, too, seeing as you didn’t currently feel like you were having a heart attack or hyperventilating and your body wasn’t shaking. That was good.

Even if something still felt a little..._off_...

“Tra la la. Have no fear,” The driver sang out, “For we are here!”

You looked up and, sure enough, the bus had reached its destination in the center of Ebott City. Your heart swelled at the sight of the bus station. True, you weren’t really a city person, but you could manage. All you had to do was find and make your own little niche here, and the starting point would be the very bus station you were coming up on.

The sight was beautiful, in a strange sort of way. There were even some monsters standing outside of the station, including a tall skeleton with a child perched upon its shoulders.

Wait a minute. Isn’t that kid the human ambassador for monsterkind!? Why are they just waiting underneath a giant banner and not at some peace meeting right now? Because that is _definitely_ the ambassador clutching the ribbons of a handful of balloons.

That giant freaking pastel colored banner the odd pair was standing under? Not only did it have matching streamers all over that part of the station, but your name was clearly scrawled across it.

…

_ I__t’__s not _ _ even spelled right. _


	2. The Warmest of Welcomes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the first day of Yuletide, my true gift to all of you...
> 
> Over 9,000 words of Undertale goodness~!
> 
> It's super long, I know, but that's just how I tend to write and usually why it takes so long to get chapters out. This will be the last piece I will be publishing for the year. Have no fear, though; I'll still be working on this and my other stories. I always am!
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy, and happy holidays~

So.

Skeleton monsters were a thing.

“WHAT DO YOU _MEAN_ YOU WERE ASLEEP MOST OF THE TRIP!?” The tall skeleton, who boldly introduced himself to you as _The Great__ Papyrus_ and wore the strangest outfit you’d ever seen, demanded as he glared down at a much smaller monster. You didn’t think that it was possible for Papyrus to have gotten any louder than when he so eagerly greeted you, and yet here you were being proven wrong.

Sans, he of the blue hoodie lump that had been at the back of the bus and was also the shorter of the two skeletal monsters standing in front of you, gave a shrug. “exactly what it sounds like, bro. i was tired, so i slept most of the trip back.”

Oh, and these two were apparently brothers, too. They were _ skeletons _, so you couldn’t quite figure out how that was even possible. Monsters were supposed to have magic, and maybe that had something to do with it...?

…

It was probably best that you didn’t think about the intricacies of skeleton monster reproduction right now.

You instead tried to remain focused on the one-sided heated exchange that currently in process. It started when Papyrus asked if you had seen his brother, only for Sans to sleepily trudge out of the bus a few minutes after you’d been bombarded with balloons, a large bouquet of golden flowers, and a more than enthusiastic welcome.

Frisk, who was indeed monsterkind’s human ambassador, stood beside you. You both were silent as you glanced back and forth between Sans and Papyrus when they each spoke in turn. Or borderline shouted, in Papyrus’ case.

You kind of got the impression that this sort of thing happened a lot between these two. Then again, they _ were _ siblings, so it wasn’t too surprising if you factored that in. Not that you knew them that well yet.

Although...it somehow _ felt _ like you actually knew them quite well—an odd sense of recognition deep within you—but you’d only just met these two monsters.

“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SPEND TIME WITH THE NEW HUMAN AND GET TO KNOW THEM BEFORE THEIR ARRIVAL, SANS! LIKE WE PLANNED!” Papyrus scolded Sans, wagging a mitten-clad finger down at his brother. It looked like this was going to be a lecture rather than an argument, much to your relief.

“i did,” Sans halfheartedly spoke in his own defense, “they like soda, junk food, and listen to music while they sleep. we should introduce them to the blookster later.”

...Okay, now you were going to have a mental image of a perpetually grinning skeleton watching you as you slept during the bus ride. Sans didn’t _seem_ like the type to be a creeper, but you could be a tad bit paranoid in nature. Thanks, anxiety.

“HM, IF YOU SAY SO...BUT DID YOU REMEMBER TO GIVE THEM THE PAMPHLETS I MADE?” Papyrus asked. You blinked in surprised upon hearing this.

Papyrus took the time to make pamphlets for his brother to give to you? That was...really sweet...

“uh...” Sans trailed off nervously. Papyrus immediately narrowed his eye sockets in suspicion.

“_SANS,_” He said slowly, hands on his hips. Er...pelvis.

Would the sides of his pelvis still be considered hips?

The stout skeleton gave another relaxed shrug as he explained himself. “i may have lost track of them after getting on the bus. i mean, i wear shorts, so i guess that explains why i ended up..._pamphless._

You choked on a laugh, not having expected such a brilliant and painful pun to have just been thrown out like that. It was like the moving crew of your dog monster pals, only _ better _.

You could see Sans’ grin widen when he noticed you and Frisk trying to hold back your amusement in order to not interrupt anything. He shot a wink in your direction and you had to bite your lip just to keep from doubling over in laughter right then and there.

“...I’M GOING TO IGNORE THAT,” Papyrus continued to squint at Sans for his admittedly clever pamphlet pun, “BECAUSE LUCKILY FOR YOU, I, _THE GREAT PAPYRUS_, HAVE FORESEEN THIS PARTICULAR BLUNDER AND HAVE PREPARED...MORE PAMPHLETS! HERE, NEW HUMAN! FOR YOU!!”

“Oh, um, thank you very much, Papyrus,” You barely managed to say without just busting out into a fit of giggles. “These will really help me with starting out here...!”

“a new _page_ in life, eh?” Sans offered yet another pun, but it was what Frisk followed up with that finally made you lose it.

“Ba-da-_psh!_” They made a drumming motion in the air with a grin of their own. You were done for.

The laughs spilled past your lips and you felt like you had to find something to brace yourself to keep from losing your balance as your body shook. Seeing as your hands were full, there wasn’t much you could do other than leaning forward with the hopes of not falling on your face.

“LOOK WHAT YOU DID, SANS! YOU BROKE THE NEW HUMAN WITH YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS!!” Papyrus threw his hands in the air. He didn’t seem to know whether to panic or join in your laughter. Frisk wasn’t freaking out, so everything was alright? _Right?_

“what can i say? i know some real _rib-ticklers._” Sans looked quite proud of himself for getting such a reaction out of you, your laughter only growing louder. Some passing monsters were glancing at you all curiously.

“YOU’VE USED THAT RIB PUN A THOUSAND TIMES!” Though he sounded like he was chiding his brother, you were pretty sure Papyrus was smiling.

Sans closed his left eye. “c’mon now, paps, where’s your _ funny bone _ these days?”

“YOU ARE TERRIBLE, BROTHER. ABSOLUTELY..._T__IBIA-__BLE._ NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!” Papyrus laughed heartily at his own pun along with Sans and Frisk. Until he turned to look at you, who was still guffawing uncontrollably, with concern. “BUT I THINK YOU REALLY DID BREAK THE NEW HUMAN.”

There was no helping it; their banter only served to make you laugh harder. You were laughing so hard that you couldn’t even manage to tell Papyrus that you were going to be okay.

You also would have ended up losing the bouquet if Frisk didn’t move to help hold you up until you were able to collect yourself. It took a little longer than you would have liked, but it was still great to be able to laugh like this so freely.

“Oooh man, I’m going to have to tell Fetcher and the others about this when I see them,” You exhaled happily. You were a little lightheaded now that you weren’t gasping for air between your chortling, and wiped a tear from your eye with the back of the hand holding the balloons. You hadn’t fallen thanks to Frisk.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT NOW, NEW HUMAN? I DIDN’T KNOW THAT HUMANS COULD GO SO LONG WITHOUT BREATHING PROPERLY.” Papyrus was leaning down to be closer to your level as he studied your reddened face.

“I’m fine, Papyrus. Just not used to laughing so hard, not that I’m complaining.” A final giggle managed to escape, alerting you that your ribs were now sore. _Totally worth it_. “It’s...a nice change. Thank you.”

“OH! YOU ARE MOST WELCOME THEN, NEW HUMAN!” Papyrus continued to smile again. How a skeleton could be so expressive and so damn _adorable_ was beyond you. He was turning out to be the type of person that was such a cinnamon roll it made you want to protect him from the cruelties of the world.

“wait, did you say fetcher? as in the co-owner of _‘fetcher and catcher’s monster moving company’?_” Sans asked suddenly when he realized just who you’d mentioned a few moments earlier. He appeared surprised when you gave a nod.

“Yeah, I promised that I’d call them once I got to my apartment. That reminds me...” You muttered and regretted not being able to grab your phone to check the time. “I really am grateful for the welcoming party and puns, but I still have to go finalize the papers for my new apartment and then let Fetcher and Catcher know that I’ve made it to town so they can drop off my things.”

You didn’t quite know what you were going to do with the welcome balloons and bouquet. The only option was to just carry them with you, as odd as it might look for you to show up at your new landlord’s place with this stuff in tow.

Papyrus had other ideas.

“WE WILL TAKE YOU THERE RIGHT NOW! BESIDES, THE ACTUAL PARTY ISN’T UNTIL TONIGHT!” Papyrus informed you, overjoyed at the prospect of being part of more than just your welcoming committee.

“‘A-actual party’?” You echoed, stuttering in your surprise. You’d just _arrived_, and there was already a party planned out for tonight? Man, monsters didn’t waste any time.

“NYEH HEH HEH! BUT OF COURSE! YOU ARE THE FIRST HUMAN TO OFFICIALLY MOVE INTO EBOTT CITY SINCE WE CAME TO THE SURFACE, SO EVERYONE IS EXCITED TO MEET YOU!” Papyrus went on to explain and you were pretty sure you could feel the color beginning to drain from your face.

“_Everyone?_” You couldn’t help but squeak out, eyes wide. A small hand tugged at the leg of your pants and caused you to look down to see it was Frisk.

“Don’t worry,” They said with a smile directed up at you. Frisk’s voice was very soft, almost a little raspy even, but the naturally hushed aspect seemed to fit the little ambassador perfectly while they tried to sooth your worries. “Everyone here is really nice.”

“I’m not worried about anyone not being nice to me, I’m just...” Your chest tightened in warning of a potential panic attack incoming and you took a steadying breath to try to keep your emotions relatively level. You couldn’t exactly distract yourself much in the current situation, so controlling your breathing was the best you could do for the time being.

“not good with crowds?” Sans asked after studying your paled expression and you could only give a meek nod.

“Yeah, I uh,” You paused, debating on whether to be honest with these borderline strangers or not. They’d been so kind to you so far, so it couldn’t hurt, could it? “I have anxiety and don’t do too well with crowds. I’m medicated and have learned coping skills for it, but it can still get the better of me sometimes...”

Papyrus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “AH, SO HUMANS _DO_ HAVE ANXIETY! LIKE ALPHYS?”

“Yup,” Frisk said when Papyrus looked down at them for confirmation. “Just like Alphys, although sometimes not as bad. It’s different for everyone.”

“I SEE, I SEE.” Papyrus continued to rub his chin a moment longer before he got an idea and struck an unusual pose. “WELL HAVE NO FEAR, NEW HUMAN! I, _THE GREAT PAPYRUS_, WILL BE THERE TO LOOK AFTER YOU!!!”

“and we’ll be there to help you out too, kid.” Sans motioned to himself and Frisk, who nodded in agreement. You weren’t too sure how you felt about being called a kid when you were an adult. You looked fairly younger than you actually were, so you guessed it was alright.

“Sans knows all of the best spots if you end up needing to take a breather during the party. Everyone will understand,” Frisk reassured, “Besides, you’re too cute for anyone to be upset with!” They finger-gunned at you and you found yourself staring down at them in bewilderment.

You weren’t used to compliments and having a child just _ flirt _ with you was a little...weird?

Yeah, it was definitely weird.

However, you got the sense that it was harmless fun; something to help make you feel better and it was working. You felt some of your anxiety start to recede. Frisk gave you a thumbs up once they saw that you were letting yourself relax a little.

“Thank you.” You smiled appreciatively, growing all warm and fuzzy inside. “And you can just call me (Y/n).”

“OH YES, WE ARE QUITE AWARE OF YOUR NAME! AND WHAT A _GREAT_ NAME IT IS! ALMOST AS GREAT AS MINE...BUT I DIGRESS! ARE YOU READY TO DEPART TO YOUR NEW HOME?” Papyrus remained ever so enthusiastic. You didn’t think you’d met anyone as delighted to help a stranger as much as the tall skeleton was.

He really _ was _ a cinnamon roll.

“Let me call the landlord first,” You giggled to yourself. Being innovative, you decided to tie the balloons to the bouquet to free up one of your hands.

Pleased to find that the bundle of beautiful flowers was heavy enough to keep the balloons from drifting away, you fished your phone out of your pocket and dialed up your new landlord.

He was glad to hear from you, saying to come to the apartment to finish up the paperwork whenever you wanted before or after the big party that night. You let him know that you were going to do it as soon as possible. You even had a ride—Papyrus beaming proudly when you said this—and it was arranged that you’d head right over.

“Okay, _now_ I’m ready.” You smiled to the trio that waited patiently for you to get your things in order. Papyrus was the happiest about you finishing your phone call so quickly and efficiently.

“RIGHT THIS WAY, HUMAN (Y/N)! I SHALL SHOW YOU MY _SUPER__ COOL_ CAR!” He exclaimed, striking a pose while he marched down the sidewalk. You didn’t have the heart to correct Papyrus about not having to put ‘human’ in front of your name while you, Sans, and Frisk followed him.

As you were staring at the tall skeleton’s back, for the briefest of seconds, you swore you saw a dark outline; one that glitched in and back out again.

It was the same mass you kept seeing on the bus, but you simply grit your teeth and kept walking.

You refused to show any reactions similar to nearly giving yourself whiplash or almost kicking your sandal like you had on the bus. Not when a headache assaulted the inside of your skull with the threat of turning into a full-blown migraine, not even as your vision beginning to distort like you were staring through glass that had water running down it.

Because, _nope_, you weren’t going to acknowledge your throbbing brain’s weird creation. You were completely sane. It was just the stress of such a big move getting to you, that’s all. Just a little stress and _not_ signs of an impending breakdown.

There was another tug at your pants to grab your attention. Frisk was trotting beside you with a look of concern you could barely make out while your sight was gradually returning to normal. “Are you okay, (Y/n)?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” You smiled to cover up your insecurities with a lie you often used when you felt you needed to keep something to yourself. “Just a bit tired, is all. It’ll go away once I’m able to sleep on an actual mattress and not crammed in a seat on a bus.”

You caught Sans glancing at you from the corner of your eye once your vision was cleared up and thought that you saw the skeleton _frowning_. However, his relaxed grin was in place on his round face with his attention still focused forward when you turned your head to look at him completely.

Was that strange expression he gave you just another thing you were imagining...?

“i hear ya’. i don’t know how much more of that trip my poor tailbone would have been able to take,” Sans agreed with your sentiment about being stuck on the bus with only seats and no actual beds.

But he unintentionally left himself wide open when he paused to cover up a yawn. You snatched up the opportunity that had presented itself like the last slice of pizza at a sleepover before Sans could say anything else.

“Yeah, having to sit in those chairs so long was a real _bum-er._” Monsters weren’t the only ones who had terrible puns up their sleeve. You grinned deviously when all three stopped walking to stare at you in shock.

Papyrus gaped to the point that you were surprised his jaw didn’t pop off, his eye sockets impossibly wide. “OH. MY. GOD. SOMEONE OTHER THAN TORIEL ACTUALLY BEAT YOU TO A PUN, SANS!”

“i can’t even be mad,” Sans chuckled. He reached up and gave you a light pat on the arm before he started walking again. “you’re gonna fit right in here, kiddo.”

A monster, who’d only just officially met you not even a full half hour before then, said that you’d fit right in in Ebott city. You’d never had anyone tell you that. _ Ever _. Not as a kid, not as a teenager, not as a questionably competent adult.

Your poor brain didn’t know what to do with the sustained heightened levels of all of those happy little feel-good chemicals your bipolar depression usually kept at bay. As such, it panicked and attempted to activate your tear ducts. You fought to shut them down as quickly as possible so you didn’t freak out your new companions.

_Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry...!_

“That was a really good one. I’m going to text mom about it,” Frisk giggled and pulled out a phone to start texting someone.

“well i guess that’s one way to _get her_ _goat_.” Sans’ shoulders shook with the laugh he gave at the little ambassador’s enthusiasm and his brother’s fed-up groan. This latest pun went completely over your head but you kept smiling, albeit a tad confused.

At least you’d managed to not start bawling because two skeletons and a child had so readily accepted you. You hoped that didn’t change once they realized the true depth of your dorkiness.

“WELL? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY _SUPER COOL_ CAR!?” Papyrus spun on his heel to face you with his arms held out in a ‘ta-da!’ motion after a few more seconds of walking. You could only blink at what vehicle he’d brought you to, because...well, it was a very fancy, _very_ expensive bright red sports car.

A _ convertible _ sports car that seated four and looked like it was a _ Jaguar _ model.

_Talk about luxurious._

“the coolest, right?” Sans added in your stunned silence. You noticed that there was a tricycle in the back seat and had a sneaking suspicion that it just might belong to the shorter of the skeleton brothers. You didn’t know why it seemed to fit Sans more than Frisk.

“It’s a gorgeous car, but,” You paused as you took in the available seats. The car may have been a four-seater, but the tricycle took up most of the back seat. “Can all of us fit in there? Comfortably, I mean.”

“BUT OF COURSE!” Papyrus assured you before promptly tossing the tricycle into the trunk. You were amazed at the fact it actually fit in the tiny boot of the car. It must have been bigger than it first appeared, which Papyrus proved when he was able to put your bag in the trunk and still close the lid with no problems.

That cleared up enough space for all of you, but no one had mentioned anything about the seating arrangements. That was, at least, until you found yourself being hauled up into the air by Papyrus himself.

It was so startling that you let out a yelp that made the tall skeleton laugh.

“FEAR NOT, HUMAN (Y/N)! AS YOU ARE TONIGHT’S GUEST OF HONOR, YOU SHALL GET THE FRONT SEAT!” Papyrus exclaimed. You had no idea that a skeleton could be strong enough to hold an adult human body up, let alone _yours_.

You were pretty chubby, which made the feat of Papyrus plopping you into the front passenger seat without his arms popping off all the more amazing to you. Thankfully, you hadn’t lost your bouquet or balloons during the partial reenactment of the opening of the Lion King movies.

The others were piled into the car faster than you could blink with Papyrus now behind the wheel.

“I can hold your flowers for you if you want,” Frisk offered while Papyrus took the liberty of buckling you in. The skeleton also checked to make sure the two in the back seat were also buckled in properly.

“N-no thank you, Frisk. I’ve got it,” You stammered. You were still in a bit of shock from being so easily moved.

“NOW, WHERE ARE WE GOING?” Papyrus effectively cut through your mind trying to figure out how much he might be able to bench press. You blinked a few times as you processed his question.

“Oh, um,” You fished the folded map out of your back pocket, tongue subconsciously poking out between your lips, before handing it over to him, “Here.”

Papyrus unfolded the crisp paper and studied it closely. He was silent for a long moment before he tilt the map to one side, his head tilting to the other before repeating the process in the opposite directions. He was having a problem reading the instructions.

Before you could ask what was wrong, Sans spoke up from the back seat: “it’s upside-down, bro.”

“...I KNEW THAT,” Papyrus replied, trying to maintain some dignity as he flipped the map the right way up and scrutinized every inch of it. “AH, A MOST EXCELLENT CHOICE OF APARTMENT COMPLEX! AND NOT TOO FAR FROM HERE, EITHER!”

The vehicle purred to life and Papyrus slipped a pair of fancy sunglasses on. He adjusted them to his liking, amazing you with how they weren’t falling off of his face without a nose to hold them into place. The vehicle was put into drive and you all were on your way.

The ride was smooth with the in your hair and Papyrus letting his bright red scarf billow out behind him. It was a good thing that Frisk was sitting behind him, as the scarf probably would have smacked Sans in the face if he’d been sitting there instead.

You also noted that Papyrus had to be one of the best drivers you’d ever seen. He followed every rule of the road to the letter and even stopped to let a duck and her ducklings waddle across the road. You didn’t really think about potentially embarrassing yourself when you leaned over the door just enough to quack at the mother duck.

When Sans and Frisk unexpectedly joined in, the duck gave you all quite the confused look before she continued on her way. She looked a little indignant in her movements as you watched her and her six little ones disappear into some bushes.

It was thanks to Papyrus’ expert driving skills that you all arrived safely at the apartment complex in a timely manner. Even your bouquet made it despite the open top of the convertible. The balloons weren’t so lucky, but that was your own fault for not tying them around the flowers tightly enough.

“There it is.” You pointed to the second floor with a smile as Papyrus turned into the apartment complex’s parking lot. “G-5—my soon-to-be new home. I picked it out of the three that were available because this is the one that has a perfect view of the forest on the mountain.”

“Sounds like you really looked into the place before coming here,” Frisk said.

“Aha, yeah; sort of. I’ve never lived in a big city before, so I thought being able to see the forest would help me settle in better,” You explained with a soft laugh, getting a nod of understanding from Frisk in response.

Everyone was waiting until Papyrus was parked and the engine was off. Papyrus, of course, took the liberty of unbuckling you and picking you up out of the front seat. You hoped constantly being picked up by the tall skeleton wasn’t going to be a thing from now on.

What would you do if his arms actually popped off at some point from doing so?

“WOWIE! YOU MUST HAVE THOUGHT OF _EVERYTHING_ BEFORE YOU CAME HERE!” Papyrus set you lightly on your feet and headed to the trunk of the car. “ARE YOU, BY ANY CHANCE..._SUPER _HUMAN!?”

You found yourself giggling as you trailed after Papyrus to get your bag. “Nope. I just didn’t want to mess anything up, which I tend to do a lot when I’m stressed out.”

“that’s understandable,” Sans yawned from where he was now stretched out across the faux leather of the back seat with his arms folded behind his head. You didn’t get to respond to him in any way, seeing as he began to snore immediately after he’d spoken.

“LAZY BONES.” Papyrus placed his hands on his hips with a soft huff that might have been mistaken for annoyance to the untrained ear. It was still a little hard for you to tell given his perpetual skeletal grin, but he was smiling down at his snoozing brother fondly.

It was also apparent to you that the trio wasn’t planning on going anywhere.

You adjusted the strap of your satchel to sit more comfortably at your shoulder and nibbled on the inside of your bottom lip in thought. You didn’t want them to feel obligated to stick around with you until the party and felt you had to say something. “Thank you for ride and impeccable hospitality, but you guys don’t have to hang around while I go and get things dealt with. After all, I’ll be seeing you at the party later, won’t I?”

“PREPOSTEROUS!” Papyrus exclaimed, dropping a polishing rag he’d just pulled out at the apparent shock of the notion of just leaving you there by yourself. “AS PRESIDENT OF THE WELCOMING COMMITTEE, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE COMPLETELY SETTLED IN BEFORE I EVEN _CONTEMPLATE_ LEAVING!”

You couldn’t argue when faced with Papyrus’ determination to see to his duties until the end.

“We’ll be out here when you’re done.” Frisk was smiling and holding what looked like a marker. You kind of hoped that wasn’t for drawing on Sans’ face, but at the same time you maybe sort of wanted to see what the small skeleton would look like with a sharpie moustache.

“Alright,” You turned towards the main office of the apartment complex, “Thanks again. I really mean it.”

“YOU ARE MOST WELCOME, HUMAN (Y/N)!” Papyrus said. He was absolutely _ecstatic_ from your heartfelt gratitude. It made you happy to see him so proud of himself, although part of you was a little worried again about the fact you had been feeling so positive for such a prolonged period of time.

You weren’t used to it, but that didn’t mean it was a bad thing.

So long as this wasn’t just a manic high caused by your bipolar disorder, that is. You weren’t looking forward to the hard crash you would experience later if that was the case.

“I’ll be back out as soon as I can,” You promised before trotting of into the office to meet your new landlord.

As it turned out, you actually had _two_ landlords; Hopper, the bunny monster you’d been in contact with about the apartment, and his girlfriend Nina—_a human_.

You were stunned by this. Pleasantly so, as it was clear that the interspecies couple were very much in love with one another. Nina was one of a number of humans who decided to stay in Ebott City and one of the few who was willing to rent out to monsterkind. That was how she and Hopper first met.

They were obviously planning to stay together for a long time. After all, you were the first future tenant Nina let Hopper do all the ground work for.

Even if she was the one that had to sign off on all of the legal documents, getting her boyfriend in on helping her run her business showed a kind of trust that could warm anyone’s heart. It gave you the hope to truly believe that humans and monsters _would_ one day come to safely coexist.

Soon, if everyone was lucky.

By the time you’d finalized the paperwork, paid the security deposit in cash, and made it back outside to inform Frisk and the skeleton brothers that you just had one last thing to do, you were met with the sight of Fetcher and his moving crew already in the parking lot.

The dog monsters were prompt to swarm you as their tails wagged in their excitement. Apparently, Frisk had taken the liberty of calling them for you while you were busy signing papers.

You could see the little ambassador give you a thumbs up from where they sat on the lid of the trunk of the sports car. Papyrus was enthusiastically polishing the hood and you suspected that Sans was still taking a nap when you thought you caught faint snores over your canine friends’ chatter.

Greetings properly exchanged, Fetcher and the others wasted no time in getting to work. Even if you knew you didn’t have much by most people’s standards, everything was up in the apartment in less than an hour.

It probably helped that Papyrus and Frisk didn’t hesitate to carry some of the boxes up, as did Sans once his brother shook him awake and demanded he stop being a bum and lend a hand as well.

You nearly hit the pavement in laughter when Sans produced a cheesy rubber Halloween prop hand and held it out for Papyrus to take. It was also the first time you got to see Papyrus’ eye socket twitch up close, which somehow only made the situation even funnier.

_I could get used to this,_ You found yourself thinking as you bid farewell to your moving crew pals with the promise to bring some more dog treats to the party that night.

Back in your apartment, you were met with the sight of Sans passed out atop your largest box of craft supplies. Papyrus was standing over his brother and shaking his head in disbelief.

“I WILL NEVER KNOW HOW HE CAN JUST SLEEP ANYWHERE LIKE THIS. IT _HAS_ TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE!” He exclaimed, borderline exasperated.

“Well, t_echnically_, neither of you have nerves, so...” Frisk trailed off. They reached up to give Sans’ cheek a poke. The snoozing skeleton snorted and rolled over to get away from the prod.

“A VERY VALID POINT,” Papyrus agreed before gently nudging his brother. “GET UP, SANS! IT’S RUDE TO SLEEP WHILE WE’RE STILL ON WELCOMING COMMITTEE DUTY!!”

“i’m up, bro, i’m up,” Sans grumbled, yawned loudly as he stood, and stretched. You actually heard his back pop and he gave a contented grunt. “good thing, too. we should probably get going and let a our new buddy here do their own thing.”

“WHAT!? BUT—” Papyrus began to protest, only for Frisk to get his attention with a pat to his leg.

“(Y/n) needs to be able to get ready for the party without any distractions, Papyrus. They probably want to take a shower, get changed, unpack a bit...things like that, you know?” Frisk explained.

“A shower would be fantastic right about now, actually,” You said, alerting them to your presence in the small living room. You hadn’t been able to shower on the bus ride here and your back ached from helping haul your mattress and old box spring up the stairs.

“R-RIGHT! OF COURSE...” Papyrus looked like a dejected puppy, making your chest squeeze as you got an overwhelming urge to hug him. He just wanted to do his job as best he could, but you didn’t feel comfortable at the thought of bathing with other people in your apartment.

Sans was the one to speak up about his brother’s sudden miserable demeanor. “aw, don’t be sad bro. we’re going to pick them up later for the party, aren’t we?”

“That’s right, and besides,” Frisk added on the way to the door, “We should go clean up the bus stop and I need to go home and give Flowey his afternoon watering soon. I don’t want him to get too cranky before tonight.”

“W-WELL, I SUPPOSE IT WILL BE ALRIGHT IF WE’RE COMING TO GET THEM FOR THE PARTY,” Papyrus conceded after a moment of contemplation. He still looked a little bummed out, but tried to cover it up by standing straight and speaking resolutely. “WE SHALL RETURN TO PICK YOU UP AT SEVEN O’CLOCK, HUMAN (Y/N). BE PREPARED BY THEN! I MEAN...IF YOU ARE ALRIGHT WITH US COMING BACK, THAT IS!”

There was a significant pause as the skeleton began to fidget.

“YOU _ARE_ ALRIGHT WITH US COMING BACK, RIGHT...?” Papyrus asked in a surprisingly hushed manner. His was tone painfully unsure and you had a very parental urge to just hug him and make all of his insecurities go away.

But that would be weird, so you couldn’t.

“I would _love_ it if you came back to get me for the party, Papyrus,” You opted to verbally comfort him with a gentle smile. Papyrus returned the smile, his mood visibly brightening. All of you headed out the front door and you stopped in your doorway as three of your newest friends descended the stairs. You called out to them before they got too far: “Thanks again for everything today. It really helped me out a lot.”

“REMEMBER; _SEVEN __O’CLOCK__!_ NO SOONER, NO LATER!!” Papyrus reminded you. Despite his words, you had the feeling that they would be showing up earlier than the set time.

You gave a salute from where you were leaning against the door frame. “Seven p.m. sharp. Got it.”

As you watched the trio depart, Frisk now riding in the front passenger seat after Papyrus buckled them in exactly as he’d done with you, it occurred to you that you forgot to ask if the party was casual or formal. _Crap._

Well, you were sure that you could find _something_ in your mess of mismatched outfits that was _somewhere_ in between the two.

First thing was first, though; a nice, relaxing hot shower.

You were grateful that you’d had the forethought to actually pack all of your bathroom supplies in the same box this time around. Digging around in more than one or two boxes just to find three bottles and a towel wasn’t something you wanted to do; especially when you realized that you were a little hungry.

Once you’d bathed yourself and eaten some cup noodles you managed to find in a box that was mostly canned vegetables and pasta sauce, you opted for a nap—bare mattress or not.

It’d been an exciting day so far and your introvert-inclined self needed a bit of a recharge. You were sure to set an alarm for six twenty, setting your phone aside to allow yourself to drift off slowly.

You slipped into dreams of standing alone and staring across an endless sea of lava. The heat radiated up to sting your skin, the smell of sulfur was heavy enough to taste, but all you found yourself doing was focusing on something gray and rectangular floating upright in the distance.

It took damn near everything you had just to drag yourself out of bed once the annoying blaring of your alarm roused you from the bizarrely serene vision.

Some upbeat music had you moving a little more willingly while you got ready for the party. You languidly tapped your feet and hummed along to the songs while you brushed your hair and teeth, wiggling into the chosen outfit for the evening. It was something presentable, but not over the top. As long as the community wasn’t throwing you a _ball_, you should be fine in what you now had on.

You took to hunting through the boxes for your smaller satchel bag so you would be able to bring your medications with you. There was no telling how long you would be kept at the party and you didn’t want to risk forgetting to take them if you ended up returning to your new apartment in a state of exhaustion.

You also couldn’t forget the rest of the dog treats for your canine compadres.

Or your fidget cube, and definitely not your spare set of earbuds. Oh, and you might also need your spare charger for your phone. Once again, you had no way of knowing just how long you’d be at the party.

A glance out to the parking lot at about six fifty-five granted you the sight of a red sports car and the three that made up your own personal welcoming committee.

It looked like they’d been waiting for a while, but Papyrus was focused on a wristwatch you don’t think he was wearing earlier. His dedication had you smiling yet again, as did that comically large wristwatch of his. You’d have to ask where he got it from.

You grabbed a string of white resin skull beads to wrap around your right wrist four times on your way out the door. It was secured as your favorite bracelet for the evening before you’d locked your front door and checked the time on your phone upon your decent of the stairs.

Seven sharp. Perfect.

“Hey guys!” You called out before you reached the bottom of the staircase. From a jolt of blue hoodie in the back seat of the car followed by a certain stout skeleton’s face coming into view immediately after, you assumed Sans had been sleeping again. That or, at the very least, about to doze off.

“GREETINGS, HUMAN (Y/N)! JUST ON TIME!!” Came Papyrus’ enthusiastic, open-armed hello. He was dressed almost exactly as before with one exception other than the wristwatch. In place of the bright red scarf Papyrus had been wearing earlier, a strategically tasteful—equally red—bow tie now proudly stood out.

“Hi, (y/n),” Frisk greeted with an eager wave from the back seat beside Sans once they were able to see you clearly.

You grinned and opened your mouth to ask how long they’d been waiting in the parking lot, only to pause when you reached the car and caught sight of Frisk holding something protectively in their lap. It looked like a single large, potted flower. With a _face_. “Um...?”

“This is my friend, Flowey. Say hi Flowey,” Frisk said with a smile down to the flower.

The potted plant scoffed as it kept its gaze off to the side. “No.”

Holy crap, it was a _talking flower!_ It must be another type of monster that you were now watching shifting its thick stem like a body, the leaves folding across said stem like a pair of arms. You’d never seen anything like this before and it was _awesome_.

“What the hell are _you_ looking at?” The bright yellow plant practically snarled once it caught you staring at it. Your first reaction was to recoil from the sudden hostility, pursing your lips.

Okay, scratch the awesome thought, this was a very _rude_ talking flower monster. _Lovely._

“Be nice, Flowey,” Frisk reprimanded gently. What they got for their efforts was a seething scowl from the bitter blossom. If looks could kill...

“Why? I didn’t even want to go to this stupid party in the first place!” Wow, this flower was an angry little thing, wasn’t he? It was kind of cute in a really strange way, but also a little sad.

“You’ll get depressed if you stay in the house all of the time. You’re my friend, so the last thing I want is for you to be sad.” Frisk’s words seemed to be enough to silence Flowey, the flower only sulking in what must have been defeat. Frisk offered a smile with a light pat to Flowey’s pot. “This will be fun. I promise.”

“Whatever,” Flowey grumbled.

“don’t mind the party pooper plant over there.” Sans thumbed over his shoulder, earning a hiss from a bristling Flowey. It was evident that there was some tension between the two monsters, but the skeleton took to completely ignoring the upset flower as he reclined with his slipper-clad feet propped up against the back of the driver’s seat. “you ready to go, kiddo?”

“Oh, um, yeah! The apartment is locked up, my phone is completely charged, and I’ve got the treats I promised Fetcher and Catcher,” You chirped. You were actually feeling a little excited for the party despite still being anxious.

“EXCELLENT! LET US DEPART!!” Papyrus exclaimed and immediately reached for you, oblivious the atmosphere of the back seat for the time being. “AND HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO KEEP YOUR FEET OFF OF THE BACK OF THE SEATS, SANS!?”

“sorry, sorry,” Sans apologized. He chuckled as he heard you squeak when Papyrus promptly swept you up into the air with his hands under your arms.

Letting Papyrus put you in the front seat and buckle you in as he’d done earlier that day, you found yourself soon arriving at the city hall. There were golden flowers along the garden beds that surrounded the large building; the same flowers that made up your bouquet.

They also looked similar to Flowey, but without the perpetually resting bitch face.

“RIGHT THIS WAY, HUMAN (Y/N)!” Papyrus took your hand to lead you across fresh grass and pavement once he’d finished setting you on solid ground.

Trying to swallow your nerves, you followed close behind. This was mostly so you didn’t accidentally fall on your face due to Papyrus’ energetic, but friendly, tugging. You weren’t sure how Sans and Frisk were able to catch up with you so quickly.

Papyrus only released your hand in order to open the double doors of the City Hall and that adorable smile of his beckoning you to enter the building. “HERE WE ARE; YOUR VERY OWN PARTY!”

There were streamers, balloons, and banners similar to the one you’d seen at the bus stop. Tables were lined with foods of all sorts that were both recognizable and not, like some grand buffet that lay testament to all of the effort that went into this celebration.

What stood out to you the most, however, was the sheer amount of monsters that awaited within.

There were a number of humans dispersed amidst the mass of mingling monsters. Given how Papyrus had said that you were the first human to move into Ebott City since they came to the surface, you concluded that these other humans were some more of the people that didn’t flee the city the moment the monsters showed up.

Although greatly outnumbered, they were all laughing and having a good time with the monsters. You were overjoyed to see this, but there was also a different emotion you couldn’t quite place.

“I SHALL GO AND INFORM THEM THAT YOU ARE HERE! EVERYONE WILL BE SO EXCITED!!!” Papyrus declared before taking off into the crowd. You could only watch him charge away in silence, even when Flowey made a comment about how much of an idiot Papyrus was.

They would be excited to meet you.

_You,_ who was a complete stranger to at least ninety-nine percent of them.

All of these monsters that wanted to meet you were gathered in this one place for a big party they were throwing for a human they didn’t know. Even after all of the hate they were still getting from a majority of mankind, they _ still _ did all of this despite the risk of you just being someone who hated them simply because they weren’t like you.

Your throat began to sting with the oncoming urge to cry at this realization.

_Even after all they’ve been though with most of humanity, they still..._

“you okay there, kid? do you need to go outside for a bit?” Sans asked when he took note of your silence and softened expression.

“N-no,” You sniffled and quickly rubbed at your eyes with your sleeve before you smiled down at him. Hopefully you didn’t look too unconvincing. You were pretty emotional today. More than usual, actually, but you weren’t going to bother overthinking it and risk overloading yourself. “Thanks, but I think that I’ll be alright for now.”

Yes, you _were_ going to be fine and you _were_ going to get through this party if it was the last thing you did!

** _"̴̮̌Ḑ̸͂e̷͙̊t̵̨é̷͈r̶̹͌.̷͔̊.̵̲̍.̶̻͘m̵͍̿i̵̡͗n̸͇̉.̶̮.̴̝̒.̸̮̐ä̴̮́t̵̳͆ị̶̊o̶̮͑n̵̢̈.̵̗.̷͉͠.̴̡"̸̙͌_ **

Something strange whispered to you from deep within your thoughts, a tickle of what felt like carbonation inside of your head. You whipped around and found nothing lurking behind you.

Instead of relief, a dark unease settled within the pit of your stomach.

It was a sense of uncertainty, of desperation, of despair; fractured and haphazardly pieced back together in a jumbled mess that pulsed against your eardrums. There wasn’t really a reason for you to feel this way, or so you thought as you faced forward once more—

Only for your breath catch in your throat in the form of a sharp, strangled gasp.

_That same black and white mass from the bus was looming in front of you._

You violently recoiled at what had manifested so suddenly, stumbling backwards into one of the doors of the city hall. Sans and Frisk—even _Flowey_—were saying something to you while some of the monsters nearby turned to look your way with worry and confusion written across their faces. You couldn’t focus enough to really see or hear any of them.

Not when you were faced with a large, oozing black and hunched mass leaning closer to you. A mass that had a white cracked face and skeletal hands.

The mass that was reaching out for you with those very alabaster hands, gaping holes in the palms just as black as the eye sockets leering at you upon the creature’s approach.

This was the clearest you’d ever seen this thing, and you were absolutely petrified with fear.

Your head was starting to throb, you were pretty sure you might actually be screaming, and your chest was burning hotter the closer the thing got to you. It was all you could focus on; the searing sensation filling your lungs like molten iron while the twisted form continued to close the distance between you.

It was akin to being under water and just on the edge of running out of breath, although there was no following sensation of the relief one could only feel upon breaking through the surface to take in greedy lungfuls of fresh air.

That groping hand was moments from touching your face and your heart responded to this realization by skipping several beats. It felt like an eternity of terror passed before something deep within you snapped and blinding pain followed the stutter in your chest.

Powder blue light flashed out with enough brightness to blind your swirling vision, only for darkness to immediately swoop in as you slid to the floor. Your consciousness flitted away to the sound of faded shouting and bony hands on your shoulders.

The abyss you’d plunged into didn’t embrace you for long, though it failed to recede by much. It was only willing to slink back enough to reveal a few details of your new surroundings.

A familiar hazy yellow light peeking through the crack of a door, large mirrors making up a pair of sliding closet doors, the shifting of a waterbed beneath you...

It was your bedroom at your grandparents’ house, and you weren’t alone.

“B-but I d-don’t want you to l-leave! If y-you’re not here, th-then I’ll be alone again, and s-so will y-you...!” You hiccuped through sobs while sadness and desperation made your heart beat painfully. A figure of shadows was seated beside you.

They were your best friend in the entire universe. You didn’t want your best friend to leave you...!

If they were alone, they would be sad and scared—just like you were before they appeared. You were far too young to be experiencing this kind of sorrow no matter how mature the adults claimed you were.

There was a soft sigh, like the whisper of leaves dancing in a breeze. The fingers ghosting through your hair brought very little comfort and you stared up at your friend with tear-glazed eyes.

Their white head stood out from the black of their mostly formless body, but any hint of any sort of distinguishing facial features were nowhere to be seen. It was just a flat white oval peering back at you.

“_Come now, my little light. While it is true that I will no longer be present in the capacity that allows us to interact, that does not necessarily mean that I am entirely gone from you in the traditional sense.” _Your beloved friend’s voice filled your head calmly in an attempt to sooth you. Their hands mimicked the words in your mind before you felt them rest atop the damp hands you were currently using to rub harshly at your watery eyes. _“You know that I would never let you suffer alone. I never have.”_

“I don’t g-get it,” You whimpered and let them place your hands into your lap.

“_How can I put this into terms that your developing mind will be able to process properly...? Ah yes. Even when the time comes that you are unable to see or hear me, a piece of me shall remain with you,” _They stated matter-of-factly, almost like one of your teachers would. It wasn’t the first time.

You blinked at their words and felt hopeful, yet still upset about the prospect of not being able to see them anymore soon. “R-really...? Where?”

“_Where it has always been,”_ The echo of their voice in your head was tender now, but somehow equally as sorrowful as they leaned in close and placed the flat of their hollow palm upon the center of your small chest, _“Right here.”_

Your chest tingled and began to glow a pretty pale blue beneath their touch, but you couldn’t bring yourself to smile at the security the feeling around your heart brought. Instead, you held their larger hand against you tightly with both of yours and lowered your head to let the tears return. They trailed down your cheeks in silence this time.

In an equal state of silence, your most beloved companion gingerly placed their head atop your own. The blue light that illuminated your face made the teardrops collected upon your lashes sparkle like tiny stars.

_I don’t want to lose you again, G̷̡̛̛̛̲̳̜͇͍̫͕̑̈́̑̂̒̐̎̎̿̿͑̍͌̀͗̓̓͗̓̿̉͌̓̃͑͘͘͝͝͠͠͝ả̸̡̫̟̦̲̪̤͙̻͚͚̮̼̬̱̆͛͗͜͝ͅs̶̡̞̦̪͖̟̗͕̭͈͈̬͓̳͕͙̲̙̬̟̺̗̲̭̩̖̥͇̭͓̫̣͕͙͖̩͆͗̍̎͂̎̅̿̄̓̉̅̂̍̒̑̈́́̕̚̕̕͝͝t̸̨̧̺̲̤͉̜̜̫̥̙͈̳̱͙̻̼̥̱͙̰͖̝̲̩̫̞̜̗͚̗̲̝͈͈̿́͊̅̿̈͐̎͛̑̚͜e̵̛͉̬̣̰̻̯͈͖̭̘̝̭̦͈͋̂̍̓̃̎̃͊͛̍̒̓̎͌̔͑͋̚͝r̸̢̧̢̡̖͉͉̤̹͖̰̯͕͔̠͖͔̺̹̳̣̪̗͚͇͙̝̆̓͂̋̾̆̊̀͂̕̕͜..._

Damp eyes fluttered open as the painful dream (_memory...?__) _faded from your mind and into oblivion.

You were met with an unfamiliar wall and the heavy scent of butterscotch and cinnamon lingering in the air around you. It was a soothing smell, but it did nothing to quell the throbbing ache within your head and chest.

Your chest...

It took you a moment to realize that one of your hands was gripping the front of your shirt and your labradorite skull pendant tightly; directly over where a pain within your ribcage was radiating out from. You took note of the wetness upon your cheeks then, as well. Evidence of crying in your sleep again with no recollection as to why.

But you _did_ remember what had happened just before you must have passed out.

That warped, cracked face, the outstretched hand, heat beneath your sternum, a flash of light, and then—

_Nothing._

What the hell was _happening_ to you...!?

You rolled onto your back with a small sound of discomfort from the sharp twinge of pain the movement got you. You wondered if you pulled a muscle or something, but felt too fatigued and confused to really do anything other than lie there on what must have been a bed. A very comfortable bed, thankfully.

“Oh, you’re finally awake!” A voice drew your gaze to the doorway, where a certain young ambassador was standing. Relief was clear on their face.

“Frisk...?” Your voice felt hoarse, causing you to cough a couple of times before you pushed yourself into a sitting position. The room and bed you were currently in definitely wasn’t one you’d seen before. “Where am I...?”

“A guest room at my house. Are you thirsty?” Frisk asked. Their question alerted you to the fact that they were holding a glass of water.

The sight of the liquid made you acutely aware that you were, in fact, a wee bit parched. “...A little.”

Frisk hurried to the bed and offered the cup with a smile. You thanked them, relishing how the water felt going down your throat. You had to be careful not to greedily gulp down the contents of the entire glass in one go.

“So how are you feeling?” Frisk hopped up onto a chair that you hadn’t noticed was beside the bed. You had to think about how you were actually feeling for a moment.

“Tired, and a little sore,” You answered honestly. “What happened to me?”

“You fainted. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone sleep for so long afterwards, though,” They explained. Their dangling legs swung back and forth to bump bare feet against the front brace of the chair’s legs.

“Um...exactly _how_ long was I asleep?” You were hesitant to ask, mainly because you’d _never _fainted before in your entire life. Not that you could remember, anyway, so the news that you’d passed out was a little unnerving. Could it have been the stress of seeing that..._thing_...?

“Just overnight. Everyone was really worried, so mom decided to let you sleep here in case something else happened. Alphys is here in the other guest room for the same reason,” Frisk informed you, but your mind had started to tune them out after hearing that you’d been unconscious _overnight_.

Something must be wrong with you.

Seeing some twisted figure and collapsing because of it was one thing, but actually remaining down for the count for such a prolonged period of time was...it was _terrifying_ to you.

You didn’t know what to do, what to think, or how to cope with all of this. You must really be starting to lose your mind or severely aggravating your present mental illnesses with the strain of this big move and such a large party.

Perhaps that figure that was reappearing time after time was your mind’s way of letting you know that you were dangerously overstepping your limits.

You...you just didn’t know anymore...

“Did you see him too?” Frisk asked suddenly, snapping you back from your downward-spiral of thoughts like a lighting strike. “The distorted man with the cracked head? The one that kind of looks like Sans and Papyrus?”

Wait, _ what? _

“You...you’ve seen it...?” You whispered and stared at them, unsure if you’d just heard them right. If you weren’t the only person that was able to catch glimpses of what Frisk was calling ‘the distorted man’, then that meant that you _weren’t_ going crazy...!

“Only a couple of times.” Frisk was leaning closer to the bed and talking quietly, as if they didn’t want anyone to overhear the conversation.

“Do you know what it—what _he_ is?” You were quick to correct yourself. According to Frisk, what you were seeing wasn’t a _thing_, but some sort of actual _person_. You weren’t sure _how_ that worked, but existence as a whole was a pretty bizarre thing.

Frisk shook their head to your inquiry. “I only got to see him up close once after I went through a weird gray door in the underground. He seemed really sad, but I didn’t get the chance to ask why. He disappeared the moment I tried to get his attention.”

_Sad, huh...?_ You thought. You tried to recall if the ‘distorted man’ looked at all sorrowful as he was reaching for you, but all you could remember was the fear and pain...

“I’ve only seen a little of him a few times since then, but it’s always around some of the monsters and he’s always all weird and faded,” Frisk continued, “Except for today, when I saw him with you. No one else remembers him appearing at all. No one other than you, me, and a certain sour flower that refuses to talk about it.

“That doesn’t exactly make me feel better about this situation, Frisk. I still can’t even remember what happened in the first place...” The throbbing in your skull was starting to get worse and you had to lift a hand to rub at your temple. It didn’t ease the ache.

You missed how Frisk was frowning when they saw how you were in pain.

“Alphys called it a Soul Burst. She and Sans were acting a little weird, but I think that’s just because everyone thought you were dying and were freaking out. I had to explain that you only fainted.” The little ambassador was trying to give you all the information they thought would help. Unfortunately, you were so utterly exhausted that they worried you might pass out again.

There was a lot that you wanted to ask about some of the things Frisk just told you, like what the _ hell _ a soul burst was, but you were too run-down to bother willingly intaking much more information right now. You honestly just wanted to go back to your new apartment and sleep for a week.

“I should go let mom and the others know that you’re awake now,” Frisk informed you as they slid down off the chair and padded across the plush rug.

“Okay...” You muttered, watching them leave the room before you glanced down to your right hand. It was still holding onto the front of your shirt and, consequently, your crystal skull.

You pulled your hand back to peer at the little green skull nestled within your palm. A shift of your hand, and portions of the stone lit up with various hues.

The sheen, commonly known as labradorescence, was mostly blue with the occasional stripe of a peachy orange. At the very edges of the glimmering areas was a highly translucent indigo purple that one could only see if they were looking for it.

You’d owned this crystal skull pendant long enough to know every color of every little fleck that lit up in certain light angles. It was practically a part of you, but in that moment of time you never felt so..._detached_ from what you thought you knew.

Detached from reality, detached from _yourself,_ as if no longer able to tell up from down.

Fear and confusion were welling up within you and your hand curled around your pendant once more. You didn’t want to be alone like this. Not when you couldn’t shake the feeling of being so vulnerable and so unbelievably _lost_.

The bed suddenly dipped as if someone sat on the edge of the mattress, the hair at the back of your head shifting like fingertips were stroking downward through the messy strands. You looked beside you...

But nobody was there.


	3. What Makes a Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter three! It's super long, I know, but that's how I tend to write so chapters end up having varying lengths of 8000 words or more. This chapter might also be a little boring, but you know what they say about the quiet before the storm and all that. Also, I updated the tags a we bit, because I realized that I had the romantic soulmate down but not the three platonic ones.
> 
> I've been itching to start up an Underfell!Sans story lately, so you might have that to look forward to before chapter four comes out, along with the third chapter of my Michael Myers story (which I have recently decided will only have five parts to it.)
> 
> OH, and you may have noticed that Gaster's level of corrupted/glitched speech seems inconsistent so far. Let me tell all y'all now; there's is a legitimate reason for the variances, I promise. You'll find out why in later chapters ;D
> 
> Anyway, lemme know what you peeps think so far. I never thought I'd like getting comments so far, but they help me find my motivation when the little fucker decides to take an unsanctioned vacation.

“Here you go, dear.”

You blink slowly when a steaming cup of tea is set on the table in front of you and glance up. Your previously unfocused gaze was met with the smiling face of Frisk’s adoptive monster mother, Toriel. Frisk had introduced her as their one and only goat mom before Toriel had the chance to give an introduction of her own.

You observed how Toriel brushed one of her ears back to what must have been a more comfortable position with the soft, pale fur practically _glowing_ in the beams of afternoon sunlight. It wasn’t too hard to figure out why Frisk called her goat mom and you recalled the ‘get her goat’ remark Sans made the day before.

If you hadn’t found that you were too tired to want to to bother explaining yourself, you would have laughed. That still didn’t keep you from smiling, though.

“Thank you,” You said, voice soft while your hands curled around the warmth of the teacup. You were barely able to find the motivation to raise the cup to your lips for a sip of the golden liquid within. It was hard to move when you had a bunch of sensors stuck to your chest with the wires of said sensors sticking out of the collar and sleeves of your shirt. The pressure cuffs on each arm didn’t help your limited range of movement, either.

At least the tea was delicious, making the mild struggle worthwhile.

“T-try not to move too much, p-please...!” The adorable yellow dinosaur-looking monster seated beside you instructed nervously. Her name was Alphys and was, as Frisk had introduced her, the former Royal Scientist.

“Sorry,” You apologized, setting the cup back onto its little matching saucer. The set had a gold leaf floral pattern around the edges. You were fairly certain that the small brown and green blobs amongst the flowers were snails. _Cute_ little snails.

_Aren’t snails a garden pest?_ You found yourself thinking as you tilt your head enough to get a better look at the pattern. The action caused some mild dizziness, but you knew that was from not taking your meds at the proper time the night before. Thankfully you remembered to do so earlier while Frisk was telling everyone you were awake.

“(Y/n)? Are you hungry?” Toriel’s voice filled the butterscotch-scented air. You had to blink a few times in an attempt at processing what she’d just asked.

You brain wasn’t quite up to the task just yet, so you ended up staring up at her dumbly. “Huh...?”

“I made a Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie earlier. Would you care for a slice?” Toriel was holding a small plate with a large piece of the pie she was offering. It certainly _looked_ delicious and was the source of the smell you’d woken up to, and yet...

“Oh, no, thank you,” You declined politely, “I’m actually not very hungry right now.”

The thought of ingesting anything solid made you nauseous. You didn’t mention this fact simply because you didn’t want to worry those around you any more than you already had. From the look on Toriel’s face, however, you could see that she knew you weren’t feeling well in more ways than you would admit.

A mother’s intuition at its finest.

Toriel was kind enough not to press you for details in case it only stressed you out more, despite how she looked like she desperately wanted to ask what was wrong. “Well...please tell me if that changes. I have plenty of pie to go around!”

“Will do.” Feeling a bit stiff, you chanced rocking your head from side to side. The pop you felt from each side of your neck felt heavenly. Unfortunately, you couldn’t do much for releasing the tension in your shoulders and back until you were unhooked from the soul version of a combined EKG and blood pressure machine Alphys was focused on.

A few more minutes passed, Toriel busying herself with some dishes after Frisk made off with what was supposed to be your piece of pie. You didn’t mind in the slightest, giving a faint smile and a shake of your head when the little ambassador offered you the first forkful.

You weren’t sure how you didn’t take notice of it yesterday, but Frisk almost always kept their eyes closed. How they didn’t run into anything was beyond you, and yet you couldn’t bring yourself to ponder the matter much further than that.

_It’s perfectly normal,_ You found yourself distantly thinking as you gazed at Frisk from across the table. _Everything is as it should be here. Except...something is..._

_☯̷͕̕︎̴̹̒❒̸̧̈́︎̷̨̊♏̷̥͂︎̶̻̾♎̴̺̒︎̶̻̓♋̵̯̚︎̵͈̓♍̴̤̚︎̷͕̿⧫̵̻̚︎̴̧̑♏̸̟̌︎̵͎͑♎̸̪͝︎̷͎̓☸̷͎̍︎̵̨͑  
_

The thought flitted away like dead leaves in an autumn breeze. You exhaled a small sigh, breathing in slow and taking in the warm scent of home-baked goods and dusty sunbeams.

The homely atmosphere was calming. Being away from family hardly allowed you to immerse yourself in such soothing surroundings, not that actually being with your family was soothing in the slightest. It wasn’t that they were bad or anything, but a room full of stubborn people and an even _remotely_ controversial topic rarely made for a good time.

It also didn’t help that a number of relatives always nagged you about finding a partner and having children of your own. You’d toyed with the idea a few times of your own volition, but no person you got to know or contemplated dating ever really sparked the insanity that was romance.

There was just something..._missing;_ something no one around you had. You didn’t even know what that something _was_, but you could never find it. You’d stopped looking when forcing yourself to search only ever left you feeling emptier than usual.

Some shifting to your left tugged you from what was surely the start of a depressive state.

“The results match the ones I took last night. Other than showing signs of having recently been under a prolonged period of stress, your soul is still within the acceptable parameters of optimal health,” Alphys announced as she began to remove the cuffs from your arms. In the process of this, she was quick to add: “I-I’m not a human doctor though, s-so you should probably go see one for a physical check-up just to be on the safe side...!”

You hummed softly in thought while lifting your arms to make the task of sliding the cuffs off easier. “Yeah, I think I’ll have to...I don’t know the first thing about souls, let alone a soul burst or whatever happened, and I feel like I could sleep for a week straight.”

“W-well, I’m not sure about humans, but soul bursts usually occur in monsters when they’re overwhelmed with an intense negative emotion. Most of what I know is only in theory because I only ever encountered one case in my time as the Royal Scientist, s-so...” Alphys began reaching for the electrodes under your shirt, only to hesitate. Her cheeks began to light up in a blush.

“Really?” Your interest in the topic was genuine, mainly because you were new to this whole SOUL thing.

You also decided to tug the collar of your shirt down enough so Alphys could retrieve the little plastic stickers without having to fish around and risk accidentally groping you like she had when putting them in place. Alphys’ relief from the thoughtful gesture was palpable.

You noted that she didn’t stutter as much when she was talking about something she had some passion for.

“Yes,” Alphys went on to explain, speaking quickly, “The monster in question developed a severe case of fatigue syndrome. It was temporary, s-so going on that, I can only assume a human is subject to the same or similar aftereffects. E-even if human souls are stronger than monster souls in certain aspects, any sort of stress on the soul affects the body as well. In discovering this, I instructed him to rest for a few days before letting me know if he was feeling any better.”

‘Him’...

You idly wondered if Alphys’ first patient—er, study subject...?—with a soul burst was one of the multitude of monsters you hadn’t met yet. Maybe they might come to talk to you since you both experienced the same thing? You two could compare notes.

“Given the positive result that came from gradually lessening his levels of stress, I would advise you to do the same. Any extra emotional strain might cause another soul burst and, um, th-there’s really no way of telling what a second one would do to your physical health...!” The last of the electrodes was painlessly removed and placed into a little box beside Alphys’ machine.

“So I’ll be down for the count for a while,” You muttered with a frown, lifting a hand to rub over the faintly tingling areas under your shirt before you adjusted your collar back to its normal placement. You took the chance to pop your shoulders and back.

There was still a bunch of unpacking to do, not to mention you had to check your online account to see if anyone had bought any of your crafted wares. Thinking of your wares only reminded you that you also needed to make some more necklaces and bracelets to keep your little store going.

You visibly deflated at the wave of exhaustion that came with just the thought of it all, making Alphys panic. “L-like I said; I’m not a human doctor, s-so I can’t be certain of a number of variables, a-a-and—”

“That’s alright,” You cut her off gently, offering a smile in an attempt to help calm your fellow ball of walking anxiousness. If you weren’t so drained already, you were fairly certain you’d be in the midst of your own anxiety attack. You knew how horrid they could be and that made you want to ease any concerns you were able to. “Thanks for looking me over, Alphys. I’m sorry for all of the worry I caused.”

“Oh, i-it...it’s no problem, (Y/n).” Alphys smiled shyly up at you for your verbal acknowledgment of her help, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. She took in a steadying breath to help her anxiety crank down a few notches before she moved to busy herself with packing away her machine.

It would probably make things awkward if you hugged her. You’d have to get to know everyone better before you could let yourself _hug_ anyone, not that you really hugged people a lot to begin with...

“You do not have to apologize to any of us, (Y/n),” Toriel said as she walked over to the table. She was drying her hands off with a dish towel and giving you another one of her motherly smiles.

“Yeah, we’re all just happy that you’re okay.” Frisk hopped down from their chair with their dirty plate. Although Toriel tried to take it, Frisk giggled and ran over to wash it in the sink before she could. Toriel could be heard huffing in amusement from this.

“Th-that’s right! I was so relieved when Frisk came to tell us you were finally awake,” Alphys agreed with the little ambassador after securing the bag that was home to her SOUL monitor. She double-checked everything out of what seemed like anxiety-driven habit; the same thing you tended to do.

Making a mental note to later ask Alphys about what coping methods she used for her anxiety, you opened your mouth to tell them that you still felt bad about causing so much trouble on your first day in the city. Before you could get the first word out, however, a rapid knocking sounded from somewhere else in the house.

“Ugh, it’s the _boneheads!_” Flowey notified the household with clear annoyance. You’d caught a glimpse of the potted monster sunbathing on the front living room windowsill earlier while you were being ushered through the house by Toriel.

Frisk perked up at hearing it was the skeleton brothers at the front door and rushed out of the kitchen. “I’ll get it!”

“I will never know where Frisk gets all of that energy,” Toriel chuckled to herself.

“From my observations, human and monster children share similar energy levels at this age, s-so bouts of hyperactivity are perfectly normal.” Alphys offered in explanation.

You could only give a tired grin. “Nah, I’m pretty sure that it’s just the sugar from the pie kicking in.”

“That _would_ explain it, yes.” Toriel turned her full attention to you. Her expression was one of concern again. “Are you certain that you are not hungry? I could always make something other than pie if you would like.”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that! I just—don’t feel like eating right now, that’s all!” Your hands were up as you declined the offer of food for the second time. You still felt nauseous at the thought of eating, though the tea was settling well enough.

Toriel’s face said that your repeated refusal of sustenance only troubled her even more. She knew that you hadn’t eaten since the day before, at the very _least_. You tried to offer a smile, as nervous as it was, but Toriel wasn’t going to be swayed. She obviously cared about those around her, including you now.

“A decrease in appetite is normal after a soul burst. It should pass by tomorrow. H-hopefully, anyway...!” Alphys said in hopes of easing Toriel’s apprehension. It settled your nerves as well. At least this was something that would eventually pass.

“One must thank the stars for the little things in life, I suppose,” You sighed out. You went to drink the last of your tea when you noticed Toriel and Alphys staring at you like you had two heads. “...What?”

“HUMAN (Y/N)!”

You glanced to the entryway of the kitchen upon hearing the distinct voice of none other than Papyrus. You were looking forward to greeting him, but your pulse was quick to leap up into your throat when you saw the tall skeleton practically _running_ towards you with his arms held wide.

Even as you instinctively jolted back in your seat when the monkey part of your brain commanded your body to flee from the approaching danger, it was far too late. The reflexes you’d managed to retain from childhood years of many a game of dodgeball had nothing on those long, bony legs of his.

There was no escaping your fate.

“_Oh shi—_”

The next few seconds were a blur, but you soon found yourself with your feet dangling a significant number of inches off the ground while you hung in Papyrus’ mighty embrace.

The momentum of being so abruptly snatched up had both your head and stomach spinning. When Papyrus’ grip tightened as he twirled around on one heel, you added not being able to breathe to the growing list of symptoms you were experiencing from the unintentionally rough affection.

This must be how animals felt when constantly being carried around by their toddler owners.

Also, your chest was tingling like it was about to go numb.

“OH THANK GOODNESS, YOU’RE ALRIGHT! I WAS SO _WORRIED!!_” Papyrus declared, looking as if he had tears of relief in his eye sockets. You weren’t sure how that worked.

“N-nice to see you too, Papyrus,” You managed to wheeze without spewing the liquid-only contents of your stomach. Bonus points for you, seeing as you were also able to pat his elbow despite how he had both of your arms trapped at your sides.

“SANS AND I CAME AS SOON AS WE COULD AFTER FRISK TEXTED TO TELL US THAT YOU WERE AWAKE!” Papyrus pulled his head back enough to look at you and you got the impression that he was frowning despite such a thing being mostly impossible with his particular facial structure of surprisingly mailable _bone_. “ALTHOUGH, I AM ASHAMED TO ADMIT THAT OUR ARRIVAL WAS _SLIGHTLY _DELAYED. NOT ONLY WAS I NOT YET FINISHED PREPARING MY MAGNIFICENT RECOVERY SPAGHETTI, BUT I HAD TO DRAG SANS OUT OF GRILLBY’S FOR THE THIRD TIME TODAY.”

Alphys scrambled up from her seat when she completely registered that you were over half a foot off of the ground. “Papyrus, d-don’t! (Y/n) is still in a fairly delicate state right now, s-so they need to take things easy! That means _no bear hugs!_ N-now put them down; _p-please...!_”

“O-OH! YES, OF COURSE! I'M SORRY, HUMAN (Y/N),” Papyrus apologized and was quick to put you back on the chair he’d lifted you from.

“It’s alright, Papyrus. You were just happy to see me.” You adjusted yourself back into a relaxed position on the plush cushion of the seat. At the same time you wiggled to settle back in, you saw that Papyrus was actually wearing a fancy suit.

With the red bow tie from the day before, unsurprisingly.

“I DIDN’T INJURE YOU, DID I?” Papyrus was fretting now. He had been so gentle in setting you down, but he knew he’d let himself get carried away and could have potentially done some damage. He actually might be thinking that your run-down appearance was _his_ doing.

“Nope, I’m fine,” You said, though it didn’t appear to ease Papyrus’ concern. “You just gave me one of the best hugs I’ve ever gotten in my _life_, so it’s all good.”

_That_ calmed the sweet skeleton down. Papyrus even puffed out his chest a little with pride in being told h is hug was such a good one. “ WELL, WE SKELETONS _ARE_ KNOWN FOR BEING SOFT AND CUDDLY!!!”

_And absolutely adorable,_ You thought with a toothy grin. Papyrus and Sans’ parents must be very proud of them.

Something within you began to ache after those words flitted through your mind. You couldn’t place the feeling it brought to your throbbing chest, wondering if this was another side-effect of the soul burst. It could be, given the location of the sensation. Alphys had mentioned the center of the chest was usually where the soul resided in both humans and monsters.

There wasn’t much time to start worrying about it when you became distracted by Sans’ voice drifting in from just outside of the kitchen.

“hey there bud, how’s it growing?”

“Don’t talk to me,” Flowey could immediately be heard sneering in response.

“alright, alright; i’ll _leaf_ you alone.”

Uh-oh, Sans was dishing out some plant puns. You didn’t know if your body could handle any hearty laughter right now, yet you didn’t make any moves to try and prevent the inevitable. Punners gonna pun, after all.

“...Words cannot express how much I despise you.”

“y’know, not a _daisy_ goes by where you don’t tell me that.”

“You are _insufferable!_”

“get _clover_ it, _**sprout.**_”

Never in your life did you imagine you’d hear a flower actually _screech_ out of sheer frustration, nor did you realize just how funny it was despite how bad you felt for Flowey’s discomfort.

Toriel, who’d been trying to keep her giggling mostly quiet at each and every one of Sans’ puns, waved a hand to beckon her friend into the kitchen. “Come now, Sans; you mustn’t tease Flowey so much. He will become cranky, which does not make _flora_ very good time!”

“aw, c’mon tori. no need to _kale_ my vibe,” Sans replied without missing a beat while he and Frisk walked into the kitchen together.

That pun was the knock out blow that sent everyone other than Flowey and Papyrus into a bout of absolute hysterics.

You don’t know how long you all were laughing before a second screech, much like one would imagine would come from a banshee, tore through the air. “What the hell is _wrong _with you people!?”

“Flowey,” Toriel admonished, albeit gently as she was still enjoying the brilliant simplicity of all of Sans’ plant-based puns. It was still amazing how authoritative she managed to sound while trying to stave off her laughter. “That is a quarter in the swear jar.”

You tilt your head to better hear what was clearly a coin dropping against others, your merriment fading to a simple, breathy grin. The way the clinking resonated within a glass structure of some sort was distinct enough, despite being coupled with the sound of Flowey’s seethed grumbling.

It seems that Toriel was, indeed, the proud owner of a partially-filled swear jar.

That meant that Papyrus’ earlier rugby-worthy tackle saved you some money. You knew that you could, admittedly, curse as well as any veteran sailor; _especially_ when something got your blood boiling. It was from your own experience that you knew how unfiltered anger was never a pretty thing and tried your damnedest to keep your temper under wraps.

It wouldn’t be too hard to do if your days in Ebott City were going to be filled with ridiculous puns and terrible jokes like it was right now.

Papyrus, however, didn’t seem to agree at that moment.

“NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR PUNS, SANS! YOU MIGHT BREAK THE HUMAN AGAIN LIKE YOU DID YESTERDAY!!” He barked while still hovering over you like one would expect of a mother hen.

“I’m fine, I promise!” You tried to assure the huffy, fretting Papyrus with a wave of the hand and glanced to the kitchen entrance.

You’re gaze connected with Sans’ and you were certain that you saw his face-splitting grin falter mid-laugh before he abruptly looked away. The depths of your chest twinged once more, bringing back the unfamiliar emotional and physical ache from before.

“hey, i know we just got here and all, but i forgot to ask grillbz something when i was at his place earlier,” Sans said suddenly, speaking mostly to Papyrus and Toriel. “it’s pretty important, so i’ll have to catch up with you guys later. is that okay?”

“Oh yes, that is perfectly alright. I already have another pie in the oven and there’s an unopened bottle of ketchup in the fridge just for you.” Toriel was smiling brightly to her dear friend, hands folded in front of her.

“heh, thanks tori. you sure know how to warm these ol’ bones,” Sans chuckled. He wasn’t wearing a suit like Papyrus was, now that you actually took the time to take in his appearance in full.

Mildly confused, you tilt your head at the mention of ketchup. A monster liking ketchup enough that they had their own, unopened bottle...that sounded a bit familiar. Too bad you couldn’t remember as to why, at the moment.

Papyrus was looking a bit skeptical, maybe even concerned about Sans wanting to leave so suddenly, but ended up giving his consent after a moment of intense deliberation. “WELL, IF WHATEVER YOU WANT TO ASK GRILLBY IS REALLY THAT IMPORTANT TO YOU, BROTHER...”

“it shouldn’t take too long, so i’ll _ketchup_ with you all before you know it.” Sans, grinning wide when the kitchen was filled with the song of mirth again and a groan courtesy of Papyrus, glanced in your direction. You weren’t sure if he was looking at you completely, as you couldn’t see the little pinpricks of light within his sockets, but his smile looked a tad strained. “see you around, kiddo. hope you feel better soon.”

“Thanks Sans,” You replied, leaning against your arms after folding them atop the table. Your already depleted energy levels were threatening to tank after all of the laughter, but you chose to ignore it for the time being in order to enjoy the company of your new friends for a little longer; even if one of them was leaving. Out of habit for whenever those you cared about would go somewhere, you quickly added: “Be safe.”

“Yeah, be safe Sans,” Frisk said as they hugged the usually jovial skeleton. The others took your lead in also giving their well-wishes.

Sans turned on his heel after patting Frisk on the back and sending everyone a nod, looking like he was starting to slump under an almighty, invisible weight.

Lifting a hand over his shoulder to give a wordless wave, Sans exited the kitchen. You all watched him go in relative silence, hearing a strange sound once he was out of sight. You didn’t know what the sound was and none of the others seemed bothered, so you chalked it up to the front door hinges desperately needing to be oiled.

“WHY DIDN’T HE JUST USE HIS PHONE TO CALL GRILLBY INSTEAD?” Papyrus asked as soon as he was sure Sans was no longer in the vicinity. He was obviously worried about his brother, though you didn’t quite know why that was.

“Would it not be best to talk to Grillby in person if it is a truly important matter?” Toriel suggested.

“WELL WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY, IT _DOES_ MAKE MORE SENSE FOR SANS TO HAVE WANTED TO GO...” Papyrus agreed, although he didn’t seem all that convinced. He only seemed to grow even more concerned when thinking about Sans'.

Alphys slipped the strap to the bag holding her SOUL monitor onto her shoulder and turned to Toriel. “I have to get going, t-too. I don’t want to worry Undyne. There’s only a few hours before the press conference tonight, which means our date will be shorter than usual, b-but that’s alright!”

“Ah, I forgot all about the conference!” Frisk jolted at this realization, only to pause and frown the moment they looked to your slouched form. “I’d really like it if you could come along too, (Y/n), but you still look really tired...”

“Frisk is right; you have been looking about ready to drop for some time now. You may rest here in the guest room a time longer if you wish to,” Toriel said as she walked over to get a better look at you. She frowned softly at what she saw.

Said frown deepened when you shook your head at her offer. “Oh, n-no; I don’t want to impose any more than I already have!”

“Oh nonsense,” Toriel huffed and placed a gentle hand atop your head as if you were her child. “You are as welcome here as anyone, (Y/n). Our home is your home now.”

You didn’t quite know how to react to the motherly affection, but one thing was certain.

_These monsters were too damn trusting...!_

“You need to remember that it is _imperative_ to get adequate rest; i-if you want to recover quickly, th-that is...!” Alphys was quick to remind you.

“I...” You began softly, swallowing down the lump that was threatening to form in your throat. The four that were present were looking at you expectantly. There was no way you could bring yourself to argue, only able to manage a weary smile of resignation in the end. “Well, a nap _does_ sound good right about now...”

“I was hoping you would say that!” Toriel clapped her hands together, looking positively stunning when she beamed in triumph. “Papyrus, would you be kind enough to help (Y/n) back up to the guest room they were in last night?”

“BUT OF COURSE, LADY ASGORE!” Papyrus’s reply was more than enthusiastic. You really hoped he wasn’t going to pick you up again right now.

Frisk leaned in close to you so no one else could hear what they whispered. “Papyrus still hasn’t quite grasped the fact that mom isn’t just a really pretty clone of dad, but he knows that she’s the former Queen of Monsterkind.”

You found yourself blinking.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

It was as if your brain was a computer attached to dial-up and trying to process the data of a web page. It was quite annoying, actually, but the moment Frisk’s words finally sunk in you swore you heard a strange popping sound in your own head.

Queen of the Monsters? Toriel was _Queen of the __M__onsters!?_

No, no, no, _wait_—Frisk said _‘former queen’_.

Frisk also said something about their dad, so if Toriel was the queen at some point, then she potentially would have been married to King Asgore himself.

The two monsters in question _did_ look very similar now that you actually thought about it. Taking a few moments to connect the dots, you found that this all could only mean that you were currently in the presence of _royalty_ and you might have to meet the King of Monsters in person very, _very_ soon.

…

Nope.

_(Y/n).exe has stopped responding._

“Off to bed with you now, young one. You look as if you will pass out at any moment!” Toriel waved the dish towel she was still holding in a motion meant to urge you along.

“Y-yes ma’am,” You responded dazedly, allowing Papyrus to help you up from the chair and wrap an arm around your waist. Your legs were a bit unsteady compared to how they were after you first awoke. That meant you had to lean on Papyrus a little more than you would have liked.

“I’ll help,” Frisk said while hurrying over to you. You blinked in surprise when you felt them tuck themself against your other side to help lead you along.

“We’ll have to wait until the pie is done before we can leave, but you still need to get ready after you help (Y/n) to the guest room, Frisk,” Toriel instructed while hanging the dish towel on the handle of the oven and placing a hot pad beside the sink.

“I will, mom,” The little ambassador promised.

Alphys bid you all farewell and you were helped up the stairs and toward the guest room from before with very little difficulty. Papyrus eased you down onto the bed, fluffing your pillow while Frisk tucked you in. You couldn’t help but smile lightly at feeling all warm and fuzzy from the attention. “I feel a little spoiled like this...”

“Well, you don’t have anyone else to take care of you right now, do you?” Frisk asked as they crawled onto the bed to sit on their knees beside you. They did this to try and tuck you in better.

“No, my family lives quite a few states away.” Not that you thought they’d be willing to drive or fly to check on you in the first place unless you landed yourself in the hospital.

“THEN IT IS ONLY PROPER THAT WE, AS YOUR WELCOMING COMMITTEE, SEE THAT YOU ARE PROPERLY TENDED TO UNTIL YOU RECOVER!!!” Papyrus declared resolutely. He and Frisk were bound and determined to make sure he helped you out, despite not knowing you for very long.

You never thought you’d have any more than your two best friends. Meeting such kind people in Ebott City, be them human or monster, was beginning to make you think differently.

“Not that I’m complaining about your dedication to duty, Papyrus,” You began with this thought in mind, “But you can just do all of this as a friend, you know.”

Papyrus’ face immediately lit up being told he could take care of you as a friend. You were certain that he would have had stars sparkling in his eye sockets if it was at all possible.

“I still feel horrible that I put all of you in this position, though,” You gave them both an apologetic smile.

“You don’t have to be sorry, (Y/n). We _want_ to help,” Frisk said as they actually took hold of your hand. While they acted their age most of the time, Frisk still had moments of a maturity beyond their years. Having to be ambassador at such a young age might have something to do with it.

“FRISK IS RIGHT! AFTER ALL, WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR IF NOT TO HELP ONE ANOTHER?” Papyrus wrapped his larger hand around both yours and Frisk’s and beamed down at you.

Welp, you couldn’t argue that one.

“You should go and get ready, Frisk,” You reminded the child after a moment of enjoying the warmth generating from their hands around yours. There was something so simple and loving about such a thing, and yet it felt like it wasn’t complete. Like there should have been more people there with you.

“Oh, right.” Frisk slid off the bed and hurried out of the room, only to stick their head back in a second later. “I’ll be right back, so don’t go changing anything while I’m gone. The universe is barely able to handle your beauty as it is!”

You weren’t sure how to respond to the flirting directed towards you for a second time since your arrival in Ebott City, only managing to smile awkwardly after the pleasantly strange child. “O-okay.”

“SO, HUMAN (Y/N),” Papyrus began slowly, coming to loom over you with his hands on his hips. “WHAT BOOK WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO READ YOU?”

You tried to tell him that he didn’t need to go out of his way to do something like that, but Papyrus still insisted on reading you a book before they had to leave. He said that Sans would read to him every night before bed and he slept like a lump of snow, so it would surely help you sleep, too.

You had a mental image of Sans reading to a pajama-clad Papyrus that barely fit in his own bed and it was so sweet you swore got a cavity just from conjuring up such a thing.

Not wanting to upset the cinnamon bun, you relented and agreed to being read to.

You also decided to let Papyrus pick what book to read.

You may have dozed in and out a few times in the duration it took him finished the book about a fluffy bunny. The sound of said book closing made you opened your eyes and roll your head to the side. Upon doing so, you found that Papyrus was watching you. His demeanor was considerably different to how he’d been when he began reading.

“ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU’LL BE ALRIGHT ON YOUR OWN, HUMAN (Y/N)...?” Papyrus’ words were light. _Uneasy._

“Yeah...I just need to get a little more sleep and I should be fine. You go ahead to the press conference with everyone,” You replied gently, just wanting to see those concerned eyes of his brighten up once more.

Yet Papyrus didn’t give you a response any further than a small nod. You watched him for a moment to study his body language, coming to recognize surprisingly quickly that he was holding himself the same way he did when Sans left earlier.

“Are you worried about your brother, Papyrus?” You decided to ask, borderline mumbling in your drowsiness.

“NO! W-WELL, MAYBE A LITTLE BIT...” Papyrus admitted and look down at the book in his lap, tracing the pattern on the brightly colored hard cover. “SANS...HAS BEEN ACTING A LITTLE STRANGE SINCE LAST NIGHT. HE’S MAKING HIS TERRIBLE PUNS LIKE USUAL, BUT I’VE NOTICED THAT HE’S BEEN FORCING HIS SMILE. I KNOW THAT HE DOESN’T WANT TO WORRY ME, BUT IT ONLY MAKES ME WORRY _MORE_ WHEN HE WON’T TELL ME WHAT’S TROUBLING HIM!”

True to what you suspected, Papyrus must have started think about Sans at some point in his reading. He had his distinctive frown again, although you still didn’t know _how _you were able to discern such a thing from his usual grin.

“From what Frisk mentioned earlier, Sans didn’t take my sudden..._episode_...very well.” You honestly wouldn’t ever stop feeling guilty for causing so much trouble despite knowing that you had very little control over what your soul did when it decided to overload.

Papyrus gave quite a pronounced nod to confirm what you were saying. “OH, YES; EVERYONE PANICKED, BUT SANS AND ALPHYS SEEMED AFFECTED THE MOST! I DON’T REMEMBER EVER SEEING SANS SO..._SCARED_ BEFORE. HE TRIED TO ACT LIKE IT WAS NOTHING, BUT...”

You didn’t realize that it had been that bad for Sans. You would have to apologize profusely when you next saw him and think of something make or buy to try to make it up to him.

After attempting to chase away some of Papyrus’ apprehension about his brother’s mental welfare, first.

“He’s probably just trying to deal with the stress from yesterday. Everyone deals with things differently, but it’s not uncommon for some people to try and bottle it up,” You said after a moment of chewing on the inside of you lip in thought. Papyrus glanced up timidly, encouraging you to continue with a set of puppy-eye sockets that shouldn't be possible. “I know I’m guilty of not dealing with my emotions properly either, so I can understand what Sans might be going through right now.”

“I’M STILL WORRIED ABOUT HIM, THOUGH...” Papyrus gripped his fluffy bunny book tightly. He was such a compassionate monster, and that was what was causing him to agonize so much about Sans.

Sympathetic to his plight, you held a hand out for him to take. Papyrus eagerly did so, the bones of his mittenless hands smooth and as warm as before.

“It’s perfectly normal to worry about someone you love, Papyrus," You said as comfortingly as you could manage in your current bed-ridden state, watching the creases in Papyrus' brow ridge begin to smooth out. "But you should probably give Sans some space for a few days. Let him rest and recover a little. I bet he’ll be back to his normal self in no time once he’s been allowed to emotionally recharge himself.”

“YOU REALLY THINK SO?” Papyrus asked with his eye sockets wide and now full of hope. By the stars, he was too precious for this world, but you didn't want Papyrus to be disappointed should something with Sans go awry.

“Well...I can’t guarantee anything because I’m not Sans, but I can at least give a little advice from my own experiences. Sudden bursts of intense emotion caused by any sort of stress can really take a toll on the mind, which usually ends up effecting the body if it’s bad enough. As well as the soul, as I’ve had to learn the hard way...” You lift your other hand to place it over the tender patch of skin located atop your sternum. The muscles hidden there twinged at the contact.

You had to pull your attention away from yourself before you accidentally zoned out. Papyrus hadn't noticed this, which was what you preferred after seeing his current expression.

There was that wide smile back on his face—exactly where it belonged.

“THANK YOU, HUMAN (Y/N); I SHALL ENDEAVOUR TO KEEP YOUR ADVICE IN MIND! PERHAPS I WILL MAKE SOME RECOVERY SPAGHETTI WHEN I GET HOME!” Papyrus was becoming excited at the prospect of cooking a batch of spaghetti that would be such perfection that Sans would immediately cheer right up after a single bite. "THAT WILL CERTAINLY HELP PERK SANS RIGHT UP!!!"

“I’m sure it will.” A languid grin pulled at the corners of your lips at seeing the complete turn-around in Papyrus’ mood. You didn’t realize just how much you could truly relax now that your new friend was solaced by your tips and support.

“I’m back,” Frisk announced, coming into the room to show that they were now clad in a high-quality suit. An untied blue and purple striped tie dangled around their shoulders, but they didn’t seem to care about that as they made their way over to you and Papyrus.

“Wow, talk about fancy. Now you and Papyrus match.” You continued to grin, fading fast, but impressed nonetheless. “Very sharp, Ambassador Frisk.”

“You’re my friend, so you don’t have to call me ambassador.” Frisk crawled up onto the bed the moment they were close enough, with a little help from Papyrus. Their suit wasn't quite broken in yet, if the crisp sounds it made with each move Frisk made to get atop the bed were anything to go by.

You would have been confused by Frisk's actions it they hadn’t immediately draped themself over your chest in a hug, taking care not to simply flop down.

You returned the embrace as best you could while still lying down, debating a moment before running your hand over the back of their head with the affection welling up inside of you. Frisk smelled heavily of Toriel’s butterscotch-cinnamon pie, with a hint of something fruity coming from their hair.

There was a strange, winged design in purple and white on the back their cute little suit.

“Be careful out there, munchkin,” You said softly. An involuntary yawn followed your words, having very nearly cut them off. It showed just how you were in no condition to do anything other than sleep. Frisk sat up so you could see their bright smile.

“Papyrus and Undyne are going to be my bodyguards, so I’ll be alright,” They assured you, giving one last hug before hopping down and pulling the blanket up to your shoulders to tuck you in again.

Bodyguard, huh? That certainly explained Papyrus’ suit.

“I MAKE A MOST EXCELLENT MASCOT, BODYGUARD, _AND_ WELCOMING COMMITTEE PRESIDENT!” Papyrus boasted, puffing up with a level of pride that reeked of pure glee.

“The legendary _triple threat!_” Frisk cheered before the suit-clad pair fell into peals of laughter beside your bed.

It should be illegal for these two to be so adorable together.

“Frisk! Papyrus! It’s time to go!” Toriel called from downstairs. You barely heard her over the sounds of Papyrus’ and Frisk’s mirth.

“WE’LL BE RIGHT DOWN, LADY ASGORE!” Papyrus shouted back, apparently having the non-existent ears of a _bat_. He fluffed your pillow one last time and lightly pat the top of your head after having collected himself. “PLEASANT DREAMS, HUMAN (Y/N).”

“Mn, hopefully,” You hummed and released another yawn.

“Flowey is going to be guarding the house while we’re gone, so you don’t have to worry about being left alone here. He can be mean, but he still likes to make sure nothing bad happens when I have to go to a political event. You’ll probably hear the tv turn on at some point,” Frisk explained, also reaching up to pat the top of your head just as Papyrus had.

You snorted in amusement from this newest information on the sour flower monster downstairs. “We tend to call that being tsundere, Frisk.”

“SOON-DA-RAY? DO YOU MEAN TSUNDERPLANE? OR THAT ONE WORD ALPHYS SAYS A BUNCH WHEN TALKING ABOUT HER ANIME? ALSO, WHAT IS A MUNCHKIN?” Papyrus asked in such painfully obvious confusion.

“I’ll explain it on the way to city hall,” Frisk giggled out while ushering Papyrus to the door with a final wave to you. “See you around, hot stuff!”

“Be safe,” You called after them, still not used to being flirted with by a _child_, but the door closed to let you finally rest in some peace and quiet. You were sure you heard a ‘we’ll try’ from Frisk before it was shut. The muffled sound of what must have been the front door drifted up a few moments later and you exhaled through your nose, letting the fatigue wash over you in its dizzying entirety.

You’re unsure of when you fell asleep, if you’d even fallen asleep to _begin_ with.

All you’d done was settle on your back to the sound of the bedroom door clicking shut, closed your eyes, and just...drifted off. _Literally_.

It felt as if you gradually began to lift from the bed and gently sway in the lulling motion similar to that of floating in water. Without the water.

Without _anything_, really.

You would dare to say that you might have dropped into a meditative state similar to what you would whenever at the dentist. The only difference was the inability to open your eyes or really even move. You could get your fingers to give slight twitches, but that was it.

Perhaps this was sleep paralysis? You didn’t really know first hand, but it was a possibility; one you didn’t have the energy to fight against.

You weren’t having any of the usual sleep paralysis hallucinations you'd heard about—_yet_—and hoped it would just end soon on its own. This was probably a result of all of the stress that caused you to go through a soul burst.

At least the faint rocking sensation was nice...

_“C͘a̕n y̵o͡u h͜ear ҉mę?”_

Was that...a voice?

“_N͡ǫ...p̶er͝ha͠ps̸ ̸not..͟.̶_”

You weren’t sure if what you thought you were hearing _was_ a voice. It sounded distant, somehow warbled; ethereal in a way. It was hard to tell anything when you couldn’t see or move. There was a low drone that had started up in your head around the same time you first caught hint of those faded words.

The center of your chest also felt kind of weird.

It didn’t hurt, but didn’t feel particularly pleasant either. You were just aware that it felt like _something_ was going on with the nerves in there. Was it about to go numb?

“_Even͝ ̢if ͏you c̢an̡n̸o̡t̢ h̡e̡a̴r me a̢t th͞is͘ mom͞ent,͏ ̕I҉ w̸i͢sh tơ ap̛o҉l͢ogi̡ze͜._”

The ‘voice’ again, a little closer. The low resonance in your ears and head shifted into some sort of fizzling sensation that capered along the length of your spine, words distorted yet you could still somehow make them out.

You became aware of a presence approaching your vulnerable form. You were uncertain of the sudden sensation of someone coming in close, but you didn’t find yourself growing anxious, for once. You would dare to say the presence was something _familiar_, though you had yet to understand why.

Hands trailed through your hair with a gentleness that indicated fear of damaging something precious, their touch sliding down your cheeks. Featherlight caresses, fingertips tracing every dip and curve, cupping your face with the utmost care...

Your heart fluttered from the gesture of such profound tenderness.

You direly wanted to open your eyes and see who was treating you so delicately, to break free from your paralysis and return their touch with your own. No matter how you struggled to will yourself to move, however, all but your mind was motionless. It was _maddening_.

“_My̢ ͟ea̕g̛e͠rņe̢ss fo̢r̡ con̢ta̢c̛ţ end̕ed̵ u͏p̴ ̧ca̛us̷ing̨ ̷y̶ou p̵ain̢, ͝yęs.͠..̸?͡_”

Fingers threading through tousled tresses, you felt a hand cup the back of your neck and what could only be a forehead, cold and ivory smooth, came to rest against your own. The action was so affectionate that you were becoming emotional enough for your chest to squeeze tight, yet not at all the way anxiety made you ache. You never knew just how much you needed to _feel_ this.

“_F̨orgiv͝e͜ me.̴_”

Finally—_finally_—you found yourself able to move your limbs.

It was sluggish at first, but you gradually wrapped your arms around this person’s midsection in order to embrace them like you’d so desperately wanted to. They allowed you to do so, long limbs slipping to hook around your back and draw you to a body larger than your own. They were thinner, and _much_ taller; you were small enough that they practically curled around you.

Your face fit perfectly within the crook of their neck when you came to nestle your head against a broad shoulder.

They were soft. Warm.

_Safe_.

This was where you belonged.

You tried to find words then; to force them up and out so you could tell this person that you _did _forgive them, that some agonizingly dormant part of you knew they didn’t mean to hurt you. You fought to speak, struggled until your throat burned from the strain, yet not a single sound escaped you.

Instead, with fingers digging into the strangely putty-like fabric this person was clad in, you tried to pull them closer than they could physically be. You gripped their clothing like it was your very lifeline and didn’t care how desperate the act was. Would they be able to understand that you weren’t mad at them if you did this...?

“_A͘h͞,̴ s̶o yo͡u **are** ͟able to̸ hear me ͟t͝h̸is̵ wa̧y. ͟T͟h̶at ͏is̵ b̶ot͝h̶ a ̧p̸o̕s͏itiv͞e,̶ ̨y҉e̶t̢ fa̛ir̛l̸y c͢o͏n̛c̛e͏r͡n͟i͘ng d̛e҉ve͘l̷op͢ment̶. Y͡our ͜s͞oul is in ҉f̧ar̕ to̡o ̸un̸s̷table ̢a͢ ͢s̢t͡a͢t͡e͜ a̴t͏ ̡th͟e mom̵en̡t̕._”

A sigh tickled across the neurons of your mind and you detected that there was some sort of slight crevice or crack on one side of the coolness returning to relax against your brow.

“_H͏o҉wȩver, as͞ r̵ęg̸re̷tful̨ as ̴i͠t i͘s͡, ͞i̶t̡ i͘s ̧st̸il̸l no̵t̸ ̵y͞e̛t͡ t̕ime ̨to͡ ̴r̷eve͢a̧l̕ what ͞m̵us̴t͝ ͝be ḑo̕ne͏.̧ I͠ ̛can şee͘ t͞hat no̡w.̕_”

Their forehead retreated again when your eyebrows furrowed in your confusion. Something needed to be done, but they couldn’t say anything about it until the time was right? You had no idea if that was supposed to be a good thing, or a bad one.

“_I t̛ake fr̢o̡m ̷you̶r͏ e͟x̶pr̵ess͘i̕on ͏t̢h̡at ̧y̷ou do͡ n̡o͏t ͜u̡n͟ders͟t͡and?҉_”

Still unable to speak, you struggled to shake your head 'no'. Your movements were slow, as if you were trapped in a tub of gelatin, and the frustration from this had you biting your bottom lip.

A slender thumb eased your lip from between the teeth abusing it, massaging away the sting of pain you’d caused yourself.

“_Wo̡rr̶y̨ not,͜ little ҉oņe. ͠You҉ ҉w҉il͝l co̴me̛ to͠ ͘c̸omp̶ŗehe̴nd̢ ̷t̡he̷ situ͟aţion ͝wh҉en t̕h͟e̸ a͠ppro̶p̷riat͘e͘ ̵m͠om̕e̵nt ar̸r͜i͟v͏e̕s._”

Well, you supposed that made you feel a _little_ better about not understanding whatever this person was talking about. You were pretty sure their soothing voice resonating in your mind had something to do with it. As to the prolonged state of your body not completely listening you, however...

You were starting to become even more visibly distressed about not being able to appropriately convey yourself. Unable to see, unable to speak, barely able to move more than a few inches at a time—it all had you feeling like you were trapped in your own body and panic was beginning to set in _fast_.

A low hushing sound accompanied by a bony finger upon your lips effectively caused you to fall silent and still. The touch left a pleasant prickling sensation in its wake, but you didn’t like the fact that you were no longer completely tangled in this person's tender embrace.

“_U̷ntil ҉t̛he̕n.͡.._”

Hands cupped your face and something came to press against your forehead for the final time, although it wasn’t the same as before. It was still somewhat cooler than your own body’s temperature, but what now lay against your skin felt a little...curved? You wondered...

Was it...a kiss...?

“_I͘ ̕s͠hall̨ ͢c͟ont̶i̢nu̴e҉ t͝ơ ̶w̕a͟iţ fo͟r͘ yo̧ų,͜ m̶y̛ d͡ąrli͢ng li̕ght̨; ̵fo͠r ̸the̛ ̕re͜şt ͡of ̧e̢te͞rn͡ity̕, i͘f̷ I̕ ͏mus̕t._”

Everything faded out to the feeling of a number of hands guiding you backward. You drifted down, away from your companion, but didn’t become frantic about trying to remain with them in this space between spaces.

It would be alright this time because, even if you couldn’t see them, they would remain with you.

_He_ would remain with you—_w__ithin _you.

Where he’d always been.

Your eyelids fluttered open upon coming to land on your back upon something plush. Dammit, of course you’d only be able to use your eyes _now_.

_Why wasn’t I able to see again...?_ You wondered to yourself, unable to remember if the thought had something to do with whatever you were dreaming. You hadn’t woken up crying this time, so that must have been a good sign.

You shifted around a bit and pushed yourself up into a sitting position. It took you a few moments of glancing around the room to recall that you were in the guest room at Frisk and Toriel’s house.

Your brain also chose that moment to remind you that you’d been in the presence of a freaking _queen_. A former queen, but a queen nonetheless!

A queen that offered you a slice of pie, which you’d declined without a second thought. _Twice_.

You had no idea what you were going to do to apologize. How were you suppose to address her when you saw her next? Were you going to need to _bow?_ Dress formally whenever in her presence? _Kiss the back of her hand!?_

Ugh, your head was starting to hurt from just thinking of all of these new unknown aspects of not insulting royalty. Maybe you should slink back to your apartment to regroup and save yourself from further potential embarrassment. Oh, and leave a note. A very polite and formal note informing Toriel that you are eternally grateful for her hospitality and felt well enough to return to your home.

You weren’t exactly _feeling_ any less fatigued as you were before your nap, but you did feel up to the stroll home; even if it might be a bit slow. There was still daylight, which would keep you nice and warm during your afternoon walk. Although, you figured you should probably check google maps to make sure that you _could_ walk a reasonable distance first. You had absolutely no idea how far Toriel’s house was from the apartment complex.

As it turned out, the distance was quite a few miles. Luckily for you, there was a bus stop nearby, so you decided to take one of the buses to return to your apartment and later invest in a bike in to get around Ebott city.

You knew how to drive and all, but owning a vehicle was expensive these days and the '_oh shit it's a saber-toothed tiger RUN_' primate brain never failed to take over whenever you were behind the wheel. No one was willing to help you out when you stopped the car dead whenever you so much as _thought_ you saw another moving vehicle in the same empty parking lot.

Collecting your belongings from where they’d been set on a chest beneath the window, you made the bed as best you could before venturing out of the room. The muffled sound of some sort of radio or television became clearer the closer you got to the top of the staircase.

“Oh. It’s _you_.” Flowey openly groused upon seeing you appear in the living room entryway.

“Nice to see you too,” You replied wryly. Flowey was still on the living room windowsill, a remote control beside him while his attention refocus on the television. You could see that he was watching the press conference rather intently. You hadn’t realized until you watched for a few seconds that it was a _joint _press conference down at Ebott City Hall. “So...didn’t want to go with Frisk?”

“The press conferences are idiotic and a waste of time,” Flowey scoffed with a scowl marring his cartoonish features. “So even if I wanted to go, which I _don’t_, I’m not allowed to anymore.”

“You insulted some big-shot politician or journalist, didn’t you?” You couldn’t keep from asking, given what you’d witnessed of Flowey’s personality so far.

“Shut up,” He grumbled with his scowl deepening considerably.

A triumphantly toothy grin spread across your face at how his hostile response confirmed your suspicions. “That would be a _yes_, then.”

Flowey sneered, yet stayed silent and kept staring at the television.

You remembered what Frisk told you about the little flower flat-out refusing to say anything that involved what he might have seen right before your soul burst. Mulling things over for a few minutes, you gave in to your need for answers and walked into the living room.

You were careful in your approach as you sat down on the sofa and turned to face the small monster. “Flowey?”

“_What?_” His tone was one of harsh exasperation. Flowey didn’t want anything to do with you, but you tried not to let it deter your quest for knowledge and pressed onward.

“You saw the same thing Frisk and I saw last night, didn’t you?” You weren’t exactly looking for confirmation, because you already knew the answer. The twitch Flowey gave was a dead giveaway that only further proved that you were right.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” He bit back disdainfully. Flowey’s glare was gradually sharpening in his growing contempt for your prolonged presence and the questions surely to come that he _really _didn’t want to answer. _Ever._

“Do you know who he is?” You were trying your best to not sound too forceful while still undertoning that you weren't just going to stop at a simple 'no'. There might be the need to back off for a bit if things started to get too heated, but you wouldn't leave things alone until you got _something_ about the distorted man out of the potted monster.

“...I already said that I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Flowey was sticking with his facade of ignorance, though he had faltered for the slightest of moments before he said anything.

“You hesitated,” You pointed out gently. leaning against the back of the sofa to get a little closer and see his reactions better. “So can you _please_ tell me...? Even if it’s just a little bit, I want to know why this started to happen seemingly out of nowhere.”

Despite knowing you were on to him, Flowey refused to relinquish even a morsel of information. “It’s not any of my business.”

_Damn, h_ _e’_ _s _ _a_ _ stubborn _ _one_ _._

You puffed one of your cheeks out briefly in mild irritation. Having suspected that Flowey was going to make this difficult when you first decided to initiate the conversation didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

“Flowey, _please..._it’s not easy for me to ask you all of this. Frisk said they saw that man too, but I still feel like I might be losing my _mind_ here!” You weren’t expecting to see the flower’s face change as Flowey turned his darkened visage toward you, his features distorting into an expression one would expect from a villain.

Oddly enough, the sudden change in his appearance wasn’t what ended up disturbing you.

“Who knows? Maybe you _are _going crazy and just imagined the entire conversation you had about it with Frisk,” Flowey sneered. He immediately recoiled when he witnessed the genuine fear come across your face.

“I—” Voice choking off into silence, you let his words truly sink in.

You hadn’t even considered that the conversation with Frisk might have only occurred within the confines of your troubled mind. The horror you felt continued to surface in how you whispered to yourself, how you look down to your open palms and yet saw through them entirely.

“Maybe I...Maybe I _did_ just imagine it...” Your face paled and your hands threatened to start trembling, your breath becoming shallow and quickened. It was evident that you truly believed what he was saying was possible and it obviously alarmed you. The realization of madness potentially creeping in forced you back until you found yourself teetering on the edge between numbness and hysteria.

Flowey had never seen that kind of fear in _anyone_ before, unsure of how to react when faced with such unfiltered confusion and anguish that not even a dying person presented. It wasn’t like he could go _elsewhere_ in this stupid pot.

“...Alright, _fine,_” Flowey sighed out heavily, looking away so he didn’t have to see that horrible expression on your face any more. “You’re not losing your mind, okay? What you saw last night, the thing that almost grabbed you...he was real.”

The sound of Flowey’s unique voice was enough to draw your gaze toward him and ease your anxiety-steeped brain back to relatively solid ground. Coming back into yourself brought attention to the fact that you were currently in the process of hyperventilating. It took everything you had to remember how to actually _breathe_ properly again.

Returning from such a state of rapidly building panic had your energy levels back down to almost zero, but you were still somehow relieved. Flowey confirmed that what you’d been seeing was real—you _weren’t_ insane...!

Honestly, you were so happy with just that much that you actually might start bawling.

“But if you really want to know about _that guy_, you need to go talk to the smiley trashbag,” Flowey said, trying his best to ignore the slight whistling wheeze he heard upon each intake of air coming from you.

“Um...who?” Your voice was airy and shaky as you continued to struggle to get your breathing entirely back to normal. 'Smiley trashbag'...all you could think of was a legitimate trash bag with googly eyes and a comical grin drawn with black sharpie across the thin plastic.

The urge to laugh was immediate.

Flowey scowled when he saw the corners of your mouth starting to curl up while you bit your lips to keep quiet. “_Sans_. You need to go talk to _Sans_. The walking anxio-saur knows some things too, but she won’t tell you any of it. Sans will try anything to play it off like he doesn’t know what you’re talking about either. He’s already started avoiding you, if you haven’t noticed.”

“No, I _didn’t_ notice...” Well, you did _now._ Thinking back on the skeleton’s earlier behavior made it painfully obvious that he wanted very little to do with you. It...hurt, actually...

“Well you’re going to have to corner him if you want to get him to talk, which will be impossible. You’re better off not bothering with any of this,” Flowey huffed.

“But what if I keep seeing the distorted man? What if,” You paused, unsure of what you were about to say but letting the words flit past your lips anyway, “What if he needs help...?”

Flowey’s whipped around so he could stare at you in utter disbelief. It was kind of a funny look on a flower, but you didn’t dare laugh as he gaped with an expression similar to disgust. “You really _are_ crazy. Now leave me alone.”

You released a titter at his scowley attitude, noting how Flowey’s words lacked any true venom. He sounded like he was just about as tired as you were and, while he may have set off your anxiety moments earlier, you weren’t really upset with him. Not as much you probably should have been.

In his own antisocial way, Flowey had helped you settle some of your fears of heading straight towards being institutionalized. He also gave you a lead to find out the identity of the entity that might have been a major contributing factor of your soul burst. The least you could do was thank him. In a way that he wouldn’t flat-out throw a fit over, of course, and you already had a brilliant idea of how to go about it.

“Here; let me water you a bit.” You pushed yourself up from the sofa with your hands on your knees, intending to go find whatever Frisk used to water Flowey with. “Your soil is looking a little dry.”

There was no surprise when Flowey glared at you with burning suspicion. He had every right to, given that he barely even knew you. You seemed to genuinely be intent on doing as you said, but trusting people—trusting _humans_—was dangerous.

...Even if some water sounded fantastic right about then.

“At least put me in the kitchen window if you’re going to insist on watering me. I want to some more sunlight before the stupid thing sets.” Flowey sniffed in an attempt to sound as if your actions were a great burden to him. He was immensely irritated with himself when he failed to do so.

Calmly, you simply picked him up and headed to the kitchen; pot and all. “As you wish.”

You ended up opting to stay at Toriel's and wait for the others to return from the press conference. You’d rather not risk collapsing along the sidewalk somewhere on the way to the bus stop when you didn’t trust your body not to fail you at some point with how heavy it felt once you eased back onto the sofa after having dealt with Flowey ordering you around until he was in _just_ the right position in the kitchen window.

Besides, you had the feeling that your apartment door might suffer at the hands of a frantic Papyrus if you weren’t there when they got back—note left or not.

That left you to continue to recline on the sofa while watching the live feed of the conference, careful not to shift any of the handmade pillows too far out of place when you wiggled around to get comfortable. This didn't last too long, seeing as Flowey demanded to be brought back into the living room once the sun had dipped behind the neighbour's fence. You complied with his wishes, not saying anything about how he wanted to be put on one of the sofa’s side tables in order to see the television clearly.

Only the sounds of the conference filled the living room after that. The lingering effects of the soul burst and your prior anxiety attack were heavy on your body and mind, leading you to start dancing the line of awake and unconscious sofa lump.

It was because of this that you didn’t notice Flowey had been watching you with an unreadable expression for some time.

“...Hey,” He finally spoke after some unknown minutes, trying to get your attention. When you didn't respond further than knitting your eyebrows closer together, the flower grit his teeth. “Hey!”

You forced your eyes open and blinked some of the bleariness from your vision, rubbing at the corners of your eyes with the heel of your right hand. “What’s the matter, Flowey...?”

“Are you...are you really planning on talking to Sans about _that guy?_” There was apprehension underlining his question. Even in the state you were in, there was no doubt in your mind that Flowey was uneasy.

He was asking you this because something that was bothering him, but he wasn’t sure he really wanted to hear the answer.

“Yes. I want...no, I _need_ some answers,” You muttered while sitting up fully, ruffling your hair a bit. It took a few more seconds for you to further gather your thoughts into some decent coherency before you felt comfortable enough to continue. “But...I think I’m going to wait until I’ve recovered before I ask Sans anything. What happened last night has everyone worked up, so maybe he won’t want to avoid me if he gets some space first.”

Flowey snorted at your misplaced optimism. “I doubt it. That grinning trashbag avoids any _real_ responsibility unless it comes to his overenthusiastic idiot brother. I honestly don’t blame him. At least his reason for being so nihilistic is a legitimate one.”

You could only look at Flowey quizzically. You had absolutely no idea what he was talking about at the end there, and the little monster sighed. He knew you didn’t see Sans as being nihilistic, nor were you aware of the fact that all progress made by every living creature in the past half year could be erased at the single press of some stupid floating button.

Why _would_ you know anything? You may have been human, yes, but you were no Frisk, nor were you Chara. You had no control over this world.

Or, at the very least, that was what Flowey actually found himself praying for.

This was the furthest the world had gone without a reset, the first time Flowey had ever encountered you, and that stirred something akin to _fear_ within his small, soulless body. Frisk promised him that there would be no more resets. They _vowed_ that everyone was going to happily live out the rest of their lives on the surface.

Then you came along.

You were one of many unknown variables to the equation of this life of warped uncertainties; a variable that was different from all the rest and in more ways than one, as far as Flowey could tell.

Frisk got along with other humans well enough, but when it came to you?

If they liked you any more then they already did, the kid would have superglued themselves to your hip. Frisk was never, _never_, like that with any other human. Not after these six months, and _especially_ not after only having just met you the day before.

When factored with how _that guy_ appeared so clearly right before something as abnormal and explosive as a soul burst occurred...

You were an abnormality—a glitch in the system, an unknown algorithm with a hidden function, and that left Flowey at a loss.

He still wasn’t used to being up out of the ruins and could honestly just be getting needlessly paranoid about it, but the thought of Frisk having to reset everything made Flowey _uneasy_. It made him feel _vulnerable_ and_ weak._

It was a disgusting feeling that twisted knots within a stomach he didn’t have and made his stem crawl with what the monster refused to admit was any form of nervousness.

“Flowey, are you okay?” You asked softly when the silence on Flowey’s end of the conversation had drug on for longer than thirty seconds. He’d become so still, gaze distant and swimming with the uncertainty he was fighting to shove down. It was clear to you that something was bothering him and you scooted across the plush cushions of the sofa to get closer to where he was perched atop the side table. “Flowey...?”

Faltering at first, you raised your hand to poke one of Flowey’s leaves and see if that would bring him back to the moment.

There was no way to describe the relief flooding your system at seeing the grumpy golden flower recoil from your touch to angrily swat your hand away with flailing leaves.

“Don’t _touch_ me!” Flowey snapped, shaking the leaf you’d dare to defile with your filthy human fingertip.

“I’m sorry,” You readily apologized with brows drawn tight from the anxiety that constantly bubbled just beneath the surface of your skin, “But you weren’t responding to me, so I got worried. I couldn’t think of anything else that might get your attention...”

“Look, just...if you’re really going through with digging for answers, you need to be careful,” Flowey cautioned while still sounding quite miffed about having been touched.

“Is the distorted man dangerous?” The question was one of your genuine concerns after what occurred at the party at city hall. Despite this, a part of you didn’t believe that the nameless entity was malicious. It was the same part of you that urged you to speak earlier about him possibly needing some sort of help.

It was a bizarre sensation to be stuck between states of fear and compassion about the unknown being.

“I don’t know, and that’s not the point.” There was a flippant wave of a leaf from Flowey. “It’s not like _I_ care about what happens to you, but Frisk and Papyrus are already pathetically attached and the _last_ thing I need is either of them turning into useless, blubbering messes because your stupidity got you in over your head and you disappeared or something.”

Which could end up being a situation where Frisk would be desperate enough to reset the world. Flowey struggled internally, hopelessly trying not to think about everything staring all over again. Would he have to act out everything exactly like before, or would Flowey risk changing the outcome of the future by doing anything different...?

Unaware of the true cause of his unrest and thinking that he was simply overexaggerating the hazards of your newfound quest for knowledge, you gave Flowey a smile of gratitude. “I promise that I’ll try to be careful if anything starts looking particularly dangerous.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Flowey grumbled and turned his attention back to the television. The press conference was in the process of wrapping up with a final word from King Asgore.

You chuckled under your breath, settling back into the plush embrace of the sofa's marshmallow soft cushions. “Fair enough.”

When Frisk returned with quite the entourage, Toriel invited you to stay for dinner. You still weren’t feeling too hungry and the number of people made you anxious, but a sudden burst of energy from seeing so many upbeat faces made you agree in the end. Papyrus and Frisk practically bounced around the room in their joy.

You were first introduced to Alphys’ girlfriend Undyne. She was pretty intimidating and immediately began affectionately referring to you as a punk, but it was easy to get along with her once you got used to the borderline violent enthusiasm she had for...well, _everything_.

Then you were introduced to King Asgore himself, exactly as you feared you might after learning that Toriel was the former queen.

If you thought Undyne was intimidating, she had _nothing_ on this mountain of a monster. You actually felt a twinge of _terror__—_until you realized that he was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and the _dorkiest_ shirt you have ever seen. It had _‘Mr. Dad Guy’_ scrawled across the front of it, for crying out loud!

Upon further inspection, you realized the shirt was just a sweater with the sleeves rolled up. He’d not been wearing this outfit during the press conference.

There was some tension between Asgore and Toriel, who you learned were actually separated; thus Toriel being _former_ Queen of the Monsters. It seemed like she was only willing to tolerating her ex husband’s presence merely for Frisk’s desire to have a big dinner with both of his foster parents present.

“I don’t know if they’ll ever get together again, but at least mom’s been trying to get along with dad better,” Frisk told you from where they were seated on your lap. The both of you were watching Papyrus and Flowey facing off in a game of Battlefield along with Sans and Alphys.

Against what you were originally expecting, Sans actually stayed for dinner as well.

He was stiff and avoiding you in certain ways, such as not looking at or speaking to you directly, but you could see that he was at least _trying_ not to let whatever he was going through get the best of him.

You knew from your own experiences that it wasn’t an easy thing to do and gave him the space he obviously wanted. That seemed to help enough that Sans found it in him to start tormenting poor Flowey like he had earlier that day.

“you really _sink_ that’s a good move there, buddy?” Sans asked from where he was reclined in...well, a recliner. He lift the nozzle of the plastic ketchup bottle in one hand up to his mouth and gulped it down all in one go.

Apparently, ketchup was something Sans chugged down with all the fervor of cheesy comedy movie college students with any alcohol they could get their hands on. You wondered at some point if ketchup had the same effect when you noticed Sans start to relax and act like he was in the beginning stages of becoming tipsy.

This was proven wrong when the skeleton’s apparent state of inebriation didn’t elevate any further than that point despite how Sans ended up downing two more bottles of his preferred condiment.

“Shut up, trashbag; you’re distracting me!” Flowey bristled from the skeleton’s prodding. He was glaring across the table now, waiting for Papyrus to make his move. “Are you going to take your turn any time soon, or should I just hunker down with a pile of books for the next decade and a half?”

“_There!_ Fire there next!” Undyne urged Papyrus with a well-toned arm wrapped tight around his shoulder.

“OOH, AN EXCELLENT TACTICAL MOVE INDEED, UNDYNE!” Papyrus declared, thoroughly enjoying himself. “E-3, MY FLOWERY FRIEND!!”

That move sank Flowey’s destroyer and his face warped in his anger. “Oh _son of a—_”

“Swear jar~” Frisk sang out in warning with a wide grin and Flowey didn’t venture further down the road of swearing this time. He was certainly scowling up a storm, though.

Two against one wasn’t really fair, but the odds only served to fire Flowey up more than Sans’ persistent wordplay did. Even when Papyrus beat him twice in a row, Flowey never stopped demanding a rematch until he won on the fifth round.

The questions began once everyone was seated comfortably around the large kitchen table for the meal. It was actually Asgore that started it all by asking you what did for a living.

Papyrus asked if you liked spaghetti, namely the recovery spaghetti that you admitted you would have to get around to eating tomorrow while silently thanking the stars that your apartment came with a microwave and fridge. He seemed pleased with your response and then asked if you liked puzzles. He boasted about how he made his own puzzles all of the time when you said that you were, in fact, fond of them.

You suspected that his version of puzzles was significantly different to yours. Perhaps Papyrus needed to be introduced to 3d crystal puzzles.

Undyne’s questions were...interesting. They involved aggressive cooking skills and why no one had thought to start building giant robots here on the surface. You weren’t sure how to answer the robot question, but didn’t have to when Alphys explained they’d seen those sort of things in comic books.

You blinked a few times, fork full of the food you were trying to imprison within the hellscape of your currently unwilling digestive tract. “You mean manga? Like the Gundam Wing series with all of the Mechas?”

“Yeah! That’s the one!” Undyne pointed at you with her fork and a sharp-toothed grin. Alphys was wide-eyed beside her girlfriend.

“Y-you know what manga is!?” She asked, her excitement sparkling in her eyes exactly as Papyrus’ sockets did before the press conference when you mentioned him being a friend.

“I grew up on the stuff, so yeah,” You grinned while setting your fork down, thankful for the brief distraction from forcing yourself to eat out of politeness. “Anime too, but I always preferred the manga of most of the series I got into. I like to know the original plot and the books have a lot less filler. Never had the chance to get into any of the dating games that came out, though...”

Alphys practically soared out of her seat upon hearing this. “Oh. My. _Gosh!_ DO I HAVE THE GAME FOR YOU!”

Uh-oh.

_Hello can of worms._

Everyone was nice enough not to interrupt Alphys while she rambled off the whole plot of the game _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie,_ it’s sequel _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2_, and the anime. You were pretty sure you heard Flowey groaning about it all from where Frisk had set him beside them on the large dinner table.

The questions continued when Alphys had to catch her breath. These ones were a lot simpler; merely things to get to know you better. You even had the chance to ask your own questions about all of the monsters present, which help you feel more settled around so many of them. You didn't ask Sans anything just to keep the peaceful atmosphere at the table.

As it turned out, the biggest—_most precious_—dork in the room was Asgore.

He acted so regal and majestic in all of the human-monster proceedings aired on television and online, but in private? King Asgore Dreemurr was just a giant teddy bear of a monster who was as awkward as you felt upon first meeting everyone. Papyrus actually called him King_ Fluffy__boy_ at one point when Asgore went to use the restroom.

There was time after dinner for a few rounds of Twister. Although you’d taken to watching the chaos from the sidelines alongside Asgore and Alphys, you still ended up dozing off in the middle of Papyrus scolding Sans for cheating by popping a leg off at the knee to have Frisk sneak it onto one of the red circles.

It was a light and dreamless slumber where you knew you’d be safe. You were surrounded by new friends, after all...

“_Still able to sleep just about anywhere despite your history of insomnia, I see.”_

A voice hummed somewhere nearby, tingling across your senses exactly as the nerves of your cheek tickled when the back of a chilled finger grazed the skin there while brushing a lock of hair from your face. You shifted away from the tickling sensation with a soft, wordless mumble.

“_Not dissimilar to a certain skeleton I happen to know._”

The deep chuckle vibrating its way through your skull is what caused you to stir.

You had to rub at your eyes a few times when all you saw was a blurred image of a blotch of alabaster swimming amidst an ocean of shadows, blinking rapidly to speed the process along. The featureless dark mass was replaced by the image of a surprised Toriel leaning over you once you could see clearly enough to make out regular details.

“Oh I’m sorry, dear; we didn’t mean to wake you,” Toriel apologized. She had a blanket folded up in her arms. “You looked like you were so comfortable here that we were just going to tuck you in and let you sleep as long as you needed.”

“I even got a pillow for you,” Frisk added while holding the pillow from the guest room over their head.

You sat up slowly, cringing when the muscles of your back twinged in protest of your choice of an uneven surface to fall asleep on. “Crap...I’m sorry, I just...”

“Are fatigued? We are aware.” Asgore smiled at you warmly, looking rather cramped from were he was sitting on the floor and playing Candy Land with some of the others. “Alphys has already explained your condition to us.”

“Yeah, that soul blast stuff sounds like a real pain,” Undyne said as she moved her little green game piece. She landed on a licorice square, thus losing her next turn. “_Ngaah!_”

“Hey, why does the _human_ get to swear and not have to pay up!?” Flowey cut in. He had decided to sit the game out this time and was conveniently perched beside the swear jar on one of the side tables.

You hadn’t realized that ‘crap’ was on the swear jar list in this house, not that you’d been awake enough at the time of the utterance to bother stopping yourself. Thankfully you hadn’t said anything worse in your drowsy and embarrassed state.

“(Y/n) just woke up, Flowey,” Toriel began, most likely about to go on to say something about you being an adult or getting a warning because you were new to all of this. You cut her off with a wave of the hand and stood up while fishing your wallet out of your satchel.

“Hey, rules are rules.” You had to stifle a yawn as you procured a dollar bill. On the way over to the swear jar, you saw that Sans was passed out on the recliner with a blanket draped over him. It made you smile, the folded bill dropping into the jar with hardly a sound. “I can have a foul mouth sometimes, so consider that a down payment.”

Toriel looked appreciative of your gesture while Flowey legitimately hissed at you like a cat for ruining his chance to get out of the unrelenting purgatory that was living with a swear jar. You just snorted at the less than threatening glare being directed up at you.

“It is becoming quite late,” Asgore said after having glanced to the clock on the wall above the television. Everyone else turned to look at the clock as well once it had been mentioned.

“We sh-should wrap this up, then.” Alphys pulled a double yellow card. She perk up when she became the one now closest to the finish line.

“I AM AFRAID THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO FINISH THIS GAME WITHOUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS,” The large skeleton said while getting to his feet. “FOR IT IS ALMOST SANS’ AND MY BEDTIME.”

“Aw c’mon, Papyrus! We’re almost done!” Undyne was quick to start fussing about Papyrus wanting to leave before the game was finished.

Papyrus looked torn between wanting to keep playing or keep to his personally-assigned bedtime, fidgeting in place. “I...I KNOW THAT, UNDYNE, BUT—HERE! FLOWEY CAN PLAY FOR ME!!”

“Hey! Put me down, Papyrus! I never agreed to this!” There was a rather animated flurry of flailing leaves as Flowey was promptly relocated to the coffee table where Papyrus previously sat.

“I THOUGHT YOU LOVED GAMES?” Papyrus asked with a tilt of his head.

“Not when it’s some childish board game about an imaginary land of _candy!_” Flowey shouted. Thorny vines suddenly shot up out if the soil in his pot and promptly flipped the board game well off of the coffee table. There were various loud protests to this most recent development.

Hell, Undyne threatened to launch Flowey through the nearest window. Alphys really seemed to panic about that one despite how she’d been keeping her distance from the flower monster all night, much like Sans had done with you.

The volume in the living room had rose considerably since you woke up, but Sans was still sound asleep on the recliner. You felt rather nostalgic from seeing him resting like that, though the reason for such a thing was evasive at the moment. For all you knew, it could be reminding you of when you were a kid and would fall asleep in the living room yourself.

One of the adults in the vicinity at the time, usually your mother or one of your grandparents, would carry you to your room before lovingly tucking you into a bed that was always too large for a single child to sleep in alone.

Or..._mostly_ alone...?

“Would you care to stay another night, (Y/n)?” Toriel turned to you after giving Flowey the scolding of a lifetime. The little potted monster had been forced to clean up the game pieces during the lecture and was put in time-out. You were pretty sure that you could hear Flowey darkly chanting what could very well be curse incantations under his breath in that unfortunate corner.

Looking up at Toriel, you smiled and shook your head. “Thank you, but I should really get back to my apartment. I don’t want my landlords to rethink their decision of having me as a tenant this early.”

“I don’t think anyone would be willing to kick such a sweet person like you out of anywhere,” Toriel said, giggling behind her hand when she saw you start to blush. “But if that is what you wish to do, I will not stop you.”

“Do you have a way of getting home?” Asgore asked. He grunted as he pushed himself up off of the floor and approached you. You watched him, but didn’t give an answer due to your thoughts involuntarily drifting off.

_Home._

Your apartment was just a place to live. It was a building that shielded you from the elements, let you hide yourself away from the world when need be, but it wasn’t a home.

Where you stood _now_ was a home.

It was full of love and warmth, of long conversations over dinner and playful competition, of ridiculous humor and open arms, but...you knew that this was not a home you deserved.

“(Y/n)? Are you alright?”

You snapped out of your thoughts when there was a hum beginning to reverberate through your mind and a massive paw-like hand came to rest upon your shoulder. The touch sent what almost felt like a shock of static straight into your chest, but it didn’t hurt. Not when it was so blissfully countered by the warmth of the large body in such close proximity to yours. Asgore was a walking furnace.

Asgore...

Wait, King Asgore...

The Monster King himself that was leaning down to look you in the eye?

The king that was looking at you with an agonizing amount of concern carving its way across his furry features as he tried to get a better look at your face in order to find what might be wrong with you?

You blinked rapidly at the sudden realization that _oh__ shit, King Asgore’s face was __literally_ _**inches**__ away from__ yours._

“Wh-what?” You squeaked, unsure if he’d said anything to you when you were lost in your thoughts.

“I asked if you are alright, young one,” Asgore repeated lowly. It almost seemed like there was a sort of trepidation deep within that gaze; a gaze aged far beyond the monster’s face by insurmountable burdens and horrors of time.

“Oh, um, yeah! I’m fine!” You waved your hands about a bit with an unconvincing smile while you stepped back from Asgore, although not out of fear. “I just need to get back to my apartment and rest, is all...!”

“You sure you’ll be alright on your own? Do you need Alphys to give you another check-up?” Undyne had come over to you as well, leaning down to examine your face just as Asgore still was.

Oh no, they were all getting worried and starting to unintentionally crowd you.

It was getting hard for you to breathe steadily, chest squeezing the more everyone closed in, but you did your best to assure them that there was no need to be bothered about your well-being. “I’ll be fine! I promise!”

“Careful!” Toriel gasped out as she was forced to steady you when you tripped over your own feet and practically fell backwards against her, your body jolting from the contact as if an electrical current of some sort sparked through your nerves.

Toriel was more than strong enough to keep either of you from hitting the floor, sighing with relief with that expression of knowing present in the furrowing of her brow as she peered down at you. “Given the late hour and your current condition, I do not believe that it would be wise for you to be out on your own, dear...”

“LADY ASGORE IS RIGHT; YOU DON’T LOOK WELL ENOUGH TO BE GOING ANYWHERE ALONE!” It was Papyrus that was uncomfortably close to your face this time. His sockets progressively squinting bit by bit as scanned your appearance, a hand coming up to rub his chin. Frisk was nodding in agreement to Papyrus’ observation.

You would have heard Papyrus humming in thought if you weren’t seconds away from completely freaking out about being the center of attention.

“Guys, I’m _fine!_” You tried to maintain as best you could. Your voice was wavering, heart marching out a frantic beat against your ribs, and your head becoming light and fuzzy in the building stress of the situation.

Everyone jumped in one way or another in that moment when a loud yawn cut into the conversation.

“me an’ paps’ll take care of this,” Sans said groggily as he appeared in the center of the circle beside you.

You were more than a little startled when he'd materialized at your side seemingly out of nowhere. It spooked you enough that you had half a mind to swat Sans on the arm, but resisted the urge in favor of staving off a meltdown of potentially nuclear proportions.

Sans glanced up with a languid grin, giving you a wink that caused a strange sort of calm to trickle through your veins. “c’mon, kid; we’ll take you home.”

“Are...are you sure?” You were slow to ask, still a little shocked to have Sans interacting with you directly for the first time all evening.

“BUT OF COURSE!” Papyrus answered for his brother. He looked over to the recliner and placed his hands on his hips at seeing the minor mess of red plastic containers littering the floor. “AFTER YOU PICK UP YOUR EMPTY KETCHUP BOTTLES, SANS!”

“right-o, bro.” Sans agreed to it verbally, but he still had to be pushed along by Papyrus to actually get moving. Even then, you were sure that Sans was on the brink of falling back asleep.

“W-well, I guess that takes care of the issue...?” You were uncertain, but happy nonetheless and let yourself truly relax. Take a few calming breaths, you turned and bowed to Toriel. “Thank you for your impeccable hospitality, Lady Toriel.”

Pawed hands rest lightly on your shoulders, using gentle pressure to ease you up from your partially bent position. You complied with the silent direction, gaze lifting to meet Toriel’s benevolent, smiling face. “Just Toriel is fine, and you are most welcome.”

“Oh, and, um...sorry for falling on you,” You added, nervous and extremely apologetic once you remembered the reason why you were standing so close to her in the first place.

“It’s no problem; truly,” Toriel assured you. She brushed a few stray strands of hair from your face before stepping back and folding her hand in front of herself.

“Can I go with them, mom?” Frisk asked, only for Toriel to look down at them and shake her head regretfully.

“I am afraid not, my child. It is a school night and you still have yet to bathe before bed,” She explained her reasoning. Frisk immediately slumped with a soft whine of defeat in the back of their throat. Toriel placed a hand on their head in an attempt to comfort them. “There, there.”

“It’s alright, Frisk. It’s not like you’ll never see me again, and you already have my number so you can text me whenever you want to.” It was your contribution at the task of cheering Frisk up. They didn’t look like they were going to start crying or anything, but they were still visibly upset and you felt bad for having been part of the reason why.

A grunt was forced from you when Frisk abruptly latched onto your waste and angled their face up to look at you, though their eyes were still closed. “Will you come to visit? Can I come visit _you?_”

“Yes, and yes,” You answered through a little laugh while wrapping your arms around their small shoulders and ruffling their hair. “But only with Toriel’s permission first. She’s your mom, and you _always_ have to tell your mom if you’re planning on going somewhere.”

“I know that already!” Frisk grinned wide and hugged your waist tight again, not caring one bit about their tussled hair.

The farewells took a while. You had a lot of new numbers to add to your contacts list—Asgore’s included. He found it adorable that you were greatly honored to be given a king’s _cellphone_ number. It didn’t help when he pointed the flustered reddening of your cheeks.

You were given hugs by everyone other than Flowey the the skelebros, nearly every embrace causing your body to start buzzing as if a low current of electricity was rushing through your limbs and into your heart. It was a feeling of wholeness you’d never experienced before and were reluctant to retreat from.

Soon after that, you were safely buckled into the front seat of Papyrus’ car with three Tupperware containers of food in your lap and well on your way to your apartment. It was a fifteen minute drive, according to you more than capable driver.

Papyrus was smiling cheerfully as you cruised down the highway. “TONIGHT WAS FUN! IT WAS LIKE WE HAD OUR OWN PRIVATE PARTY TO MAKE UP FOR THE ONE WE MISSED YESTERDAY!”

It was, although thankfully not as large as the one that was apparently postponed until you were feeling better. You much preferred smaller get-togethers with only a handful of friends, but you weren't about to tell the monsters that they couldn't celebrate your arrival like they worked so hard to planning to do. They still wanted to throw you a party, so why not let them throw their party? You'd be able to manage going for their sake.

“Oh, that reminds me of a joke I saw online,” You sat up straighter in your seat as you said this, looking to Papyrus. His profile was an interesting thing to see when it was contrast with the city lights as a backdrop. “What does a house wear to a party?”

“...CHRISTMAS LIGHTS?” Papyrus guessed after taking a moment to think about it.

“No, silly; it wears _a__ddress._” There was a choked _snerk_ from the back seat, making you grin wide. It was difficult to restrain your fairly devious glee at such a horrid joke to the point that you found yourself biting your bottom lip just to keep from outright laughing from the abrupt change in Papyrus' expression. He went from curious to infuriated in 0.002 seconds.

“THAT IS ONE OF _THE_ WORST JOKES I HAVE EVER HEARD THAT DIDN’T COME FROM LADY ASGORE, FRISK, OR SANS. I WOULD DARE SAY THAT IT WAS SO TERRIBLE, IT WAS ALMOST _GOOD,_” He finally said after a mile of yours and Sans’ barely restrained sniggering. Papyrus’ expression had softened as he spoke, which allowed you to finally let yourself express how proud you were of pulling off such a lame joke.

“That was a good one, kid,” Sans chuckled, having released his own laughter once you safely had. “Glad to know that I’ve met another human who knows how to _a-door_ bad humor!"

Papyrus actually moaned out in irritation at that one, almost drowned out by the responding cachinnation Sans’ pun pulled from your weary body. “S-sans, _no...!_”

“sans, _yes,_” He retorted, his tone definitely one of someone who was currently wearing shit-eating grin. Sans really liked how you laughed at his jokes as honestly as Toriel and Frisk did. “how about—”

“ONE MORE PUN OUT OF YOU TONIGHT AND I WILL MAKE YOU _WALK_ HOME, SANS!” You all knew that Papyrus’ threat was an empty one. He loved his brother too much to punish him like that. Papyrus was far too kindhearted a monster.

“aw c'mon, you know i wouldn’t be able to _stand_ that, bro.”

Cue another groan of vexation.

The rest of the drive was relaxed once Papyrus calmed himself down, the lamps in the parking lot of the apartment complex making the two skeletons’ ivory bodies glow. It was a bit eerie, to say the least, but you found yourself alright with that. It was a pretty cool natural effect.

“SHALL WE WALK YOU UP TO YOUR DOOR, HUMAN (Y/N)?” Papyrus inquired while he was lifting you out of the front seat. You clung tightly to your satchel and the Tupperware containers of what very well could be the only things you would be eating for the next few days.

“Nah, I’ll be alright on my own. You two need to head home and get some rest of your own, anyway.” You settled onto your feet with the help of Papyrus’ steady grasp, reminding him of one of the reasons he was so willing to leave without finishing a board game other than just taking you home.

“ARE YOU SURE?” Papyrus queried further. He must have been worried about you falling down the stairs if you walked up on your own or something, to the point that his own needs weren’t at the forefront of his mind at the moment. You might have to pull the stern parent voice card if he was going to keep this up.

“_Yes,_” You drug out the word in a way that made it apparent you weren’t going to take any insistence of help, placing your only free hand on your hip to further show this. “Skeletons also need their sleep.”

“WELL, IF YOU SAY SO...” Trailing off, Papyrus held his arms open in a silent request for a hug. You smiled and set the containers of food on the hood of his car before holding out your arms to welcome the careful embrace you were promptly enveloped in.

It was difficult with you being flat on your feet, given how much taller Papyrus was, but he bowed himself over you order to accommodate for the significant difference in your statures. You felt your smile widen, shifting your arms from around his chest and standing on the tips of your toes as best you could since being scrunched up like he was must have been at least a _little _uncomfortable.

Another little jolt that could only be likened to static electricity zipped through your chest, similar to when Asgore had touched your shoulder or you were getting hugs from the others. The only difference was that this feeling was significantly more kinetic in nature than all the times before.

Exhaling in contentment, you rubbed Papyrus’ back lightly. “You can even come over tomorrow to check on me if you’re so worried. Just not too early, okay?”

“YES, OF COURSE!” Papyrus nodded fervently, practically shaking you in his enthusiasm. “I’LL EVEN BRING YOU MORE RECOVERY SPAGHETTI!”

You weren’t really even thinking about it when you cupped the back of Papyrus’ head to bring it to rest against your shoulder. It was such an affectionate position, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care enough to get embarrassed about it. Your body simply sang in joy with whatever bioelectric field filling you when Papyrus held you a little tighter.

You swore you were literally quivering, chest aflutter with the elevated state of whatever this sensation was, and you were curious to know if Papyrus was feeling as super-charged as all of your jittering atoms currently did.

“WOWIE, HUMAN HUGS ARE SO WARM AND SQUISHY!” He exclaimed delightedly. Well, if Papyrus wasn’t feeling like a walking vibrator, at least he was enjoying your plump form. It must have been a pleasant sensation, given how he was legitimately all bones with only a suit to cushion him in place of muscles and skin.

You don’t know how long you two held onto one another, but you were the first to withdraw when your legs started to hurt from standing only on your toes for a prolonged period of time.

Papyrus was reluctant to pull away but did so without any complaints. Still smiling, you turned your attention to the unattended skeleton watching all of this with a strange little grin on his face, his cheekbone resting against the back of the metacarpals of his left hand.

“You want a hug too, Sans?” You offered, knowing that it was only fair.

Sans waved his other hand in what might have been a half-assed shooing motion. “nah, not this time.”

“YOU JUST DON’T WANT TO GET OUT OF THE CAR, LAZYBONES!” Papyrus barked, hands planting firmly on his hips at the thought of anyone denying something a wonderful as a hug from a soft, squishy human.

“well that’s not _inaccurate_,” Sans replied nonchalantly. His grin had changed, but only faintly. It might have just been a trick of the light, seeing as you still weren’t completely certain how you were noticing shifts in the expressions of _skeletons_.

“YOU GET UP AND HUG HUMAN (Y/N) GOODNIGHT THIS INSTANT, SANS!” Papyrus was now using the stern parent tone, not that it was working on his brother in the slightest.

“He doesn’t have to get out of the car to get a hug.” You tried to diffuse what could be a harmless sibling argument. Other tenants of the complex were starting to open their windows to see what all of the commotion in the parking lot was and you didn’t want to be entertaining a crowd this late.

“works for me.” Sans shrugged and gave an exaggerated yawn.

You shook your head in amusement and leaned over the top of the door to draw Sans into your arms.

It was a hug similar to the one shared with Papyrus, but this position allowed you to realize you'd recreated an embrace you'd often been given when you were a child. They were some of the best hugs you’d ever gotten in your short life so far.

You drew Sans' head in to be tucked against your shoulder by one hand with the side of his cranium pressed there, your other hand resting against his back. You could feel every dip and curve of his scapula through the layers of hoodie and shirt, noticing fairly quickly that Sans was strung stiff as a board within your arms. Had he not expected you to actually hug him...?

You couldn’t blame him, seeing as you’d only met each other the day before. Not all monsters were going to be as openly giving in their affections as most of the ones you'd met so far. Just look at Flowey.

About to let go of Sans in order to not make either of you feel any more uncomfortable, you only got as far as a minor twitch before phalanges took hold of your sleeve.

The action was hesitant, as if Sans didn’t know how to react in a situation like this, but he began to sag against you while his hold on you gradually tightened and his face shifted _ever_ so slightly closer to your shoulder. He was accepting the hug—_returning_ it—and your nerves lit up in that delicious buzz dancing all across your nervous system to settle into the seat of your soul.

_Relief_, you realized suddenly. This feeling you had resonating within the depths of your ribcage when you hugged either of the skeletons was one of _relief._

You had the suffocating urge to reach behind you and yank Papyrus over in order to make this a group hug, and most likely would have if Sans hadn’t disentangled himself from you in that moment. The feeling of loss was instantaneous and aching, and it felt weird to want to be so..._clingy_.

“alright; off to bed with you, kiddo.” Sans gave the full ‘shoo’ wave this time. He seemed to be far more relaxed than he was before you hugged him and that made you feel all warm and fuzzy in a pleasant way that you weren't accustomed to.

“Same to you two.” You playfully wagged your finger at them before collecting the Tupperware and taking a few steps away from the flashy sports car.

You really liked the skeletons, liked how you felt when you were with them; as if having them at your side was how life was supposed to be. Their presence helped make you not remember how often you found yourself feeling hollow inside. “Goodnight Sans, goodnight Papyrus. Be safe on your way home.”

“SWEET DREAMS, HUMAN (Y/N)!” Papyrus waved his farewell, arm a blur beneath the yellow haze of the parking lot’s lights.

“You too when you get to it!” You returned his wave in a much less energetic manner. You were becoming quite intent on renewing your intimate relationship with your mattress once you put the leftovers into the fridge and changed into cleaner clothes.

Turning away from your friends made you a little sad. You knew you needed to recharge, though; recharge and rest, and then you could go about in hanging out and getting to know them more personally. You could take them out to a restaurant or movie to thank them for all of their help these past two days. With Frisk too, of course.

You found yourself waving once more before turning away the final time that night.

Neither you nor Papyrus saw the look of sheer terror that overtook Sans’ features the moment you turned your back to the brothers and headed for the stairs leading up to your apartment.

He was the only one aware of the dark, translucent figure that followed close behind you.


	4. Road To Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter four is here~!
> 
> It's another sort of slow one that focuses more on Sans being Sans and the reader not understanding why while they struggle to recover from their soul burst. Hopefully it will make sense why I made this chapter the way I did when later chapters explain some things involving soul stuff.
> 
> There are only teeny hints of Gaster in this one, but I can assure you, there will be MUCH more of him in the next chapter!

Recovery was taking a lot longer than you would have liked.

Unpacking had to be put on hold, going out anywhere on your own was almost impossible most days, and you were beginning to fear that you would have to temporarily close your online shop soon due to being unable to find the energy to keep up a reasonable stock of your more popular macrame pendants. All your body consistently wanted to do was go comatose without a care to the world around you.

The unrelenting fatigue was _really_ starting to piss you off, though there was nothing you could do except wait to see if it passed.

Even the human doctor you’d gone to in order to get a proper check-up, as Alphys instructed, told you that you had to wait at least a month to see if it would pass on its own before he could go about trying to prescribe you anything useful.

That month long period was due to be up in six days now and you were still utterly miserable and sleeping roughly eighteen hours a day. The frustration was painful, but there was one positive that helped you not completely lose your mind, and that was how you actually had people looking after you.

Papyrus and Frisk visited you every day without fail, even if they knew they wouldn’t be able to stay long. Their lively presence in your apartment always made you feel a little livelier yourself no matter how brief their visits.

They kept your apartment clean no matter how much you protested, Papyrus bringing you more than you could eat most days, and he and Frisk were even kind enough to carry in all of the gift baskets that had begun to show up the very morning after you got back from Toriel’s.

Holy friggin’ stars, _the gift baskets_.

Most of them were clearly from monsters that didn’t know the first thing about making a get well care basket for humans. You got so many strange, but pleasant, things.

One of the strangest baskets you received was from some sort of robot entertainer named Mettaton. There were autographed pictures _everywhere_, along with a written promise of a free interview once you were healthy enough for it, and a frozen pack of some weirdly-shaped things apparently called face steaks.

You were overwhelmed with gratitude, even for some of the more useless things you’d gotten.

This new community you were coming to be a part of genuinely cared enough to do all of this for a single person. You still hadn’t even _met _most of them and yet they were sending you gift baskets by the dozens even after nearly a month! There was no way you’d ever be able to protest the delayed welcoming party after all of this, even if you wanted to.

Unfortunately, nothing good ever came without something bad. The universe hated you like that.

The biggest problem that you were helpless to do anything against, aside from the fatigue, was the fact that you hadn’t seen bone nor hoodie of Sans. Not since he and Papyrus had been kind enough to drive you back to your apartment the night after your soul burst.

You’d get his terrible jokes texted to you once or twice a day, but Sans somehow always had some excuse that he’d given Papyrus when it came to checking up on you in person.

You only came to know about this because Papyrus confided in you and Frisk, and you found yourself far more worried about Sans’ well-being rather than your own. There was also a nagging fear that gnawed at your insides and hissed how Sans was avoiding you like this simply because he’d come to hate you.

The rational part of your mind tried to tell you that was nearly impossible since Sans barely knew you, but your anxiety and self-loathing overpowered it with racing thoughts of anything you could have possibly done to upset him (the hug, no doubt).

Your paranoia went further than your waking life, plaguing your slumbering world with dreams of Sans yelling at you.

Although you were always unable to hear anything he said in these dreams, his anguish was clear enough that no words were needed to see how much pain he was in.

You just stood there silently with your heart aching while he shouted up at you, waving papers around as if to make a point. The contents of said papers were always unintelligible in the dreams where you would calmly take them, scanning the pages filled with graphs and scribbles that looked familiar, yet were completely foreign to you.

This was only a dream; one you remembered very few details of after waking.

Yes, you _knew_ it was just a silly little dream your overactive imagination was conjuring up because, unlike what you’d witnessed in reality so far, the anguished Sans in your dream was always clad in a white coat that scientists or doctors would wear.

One strange aspect you sometimes remembered of this reoccurring lab-set dream was how you were only able to see out of one eye while feeling like the world was spinning and you might lose control of your balance at any given second. You also felt taller, as silly as that sounded.

Then again, dreams weren’t made to make sense, were they?

You once read somewhere that the images that occurred during REM sleep were merely conjured from the mind going through the day’s events in order to properly file them away in short or long term memory. There was no telling how much of that was true, especially since you hadn’t seen Sans _once_ in almost a full month.

That meant that you shouldn’t be finding yourself standing before his lab coat-clad form for what felt like the hundredth time, taking in his muted desperation with maintained silence like a parent did for their venting child.

Like all times before, you held your hand out for the papers. Sans practically shoved them into your waiting palm and watched your reaction closely with a pleading trepidation upon his ivory features.

You paid no mind to how the edges of the parchment threatened to cut your unusually marble-hued fingers and instead took in the papers’ contents. While unreadable to you, something within you didn’t like what you saw in that unintelligible writing. It wasn’t the results that you—_any_ of you—were looking for.

Nevertheless, you knew that you had to press onward; that you _had_ to find the _answer_ before it was too late.

_Even if that meant..._

You lift your one-eyed gaze to the skeleton still watching you with bated breath. Your mouth parts open to say something you feel will only upset Sans further than these readings already have, yet nothing leaves you.

In place of your voice, all becomes still and a low, static hum fills your mind. Along with this, something draws your focus to the far end of the uncomfortably narrow hallway.

Gray, rectangular, and somehow foreign even in this laboratory setting; an object that commanded your complete and utter attention stood out against all else.

_T__here!_ _The answer must be there! It __**had**__ to be __past that threshold__, or else all of this was for nothing!_

Without warning, the deafening hum faded into a fainter vibration that was located somewhere beside your head. This buzzing stopped, only to go off a second time as you forced your eyes to flutter open.

You were back in your apartment, safely tucked within your bed with your body feeling like lead even with you merely lying there.

The suffocating desperation you’d been feeling moments before, however, was quick to fade as a third vibration had you blindly searching for your phone. It took you a few moments to find it before you could blearily make out that you had three new texts. All of them were from Sans.

Dream of the skeleton and he doth text, apparently.

You rolled onto your back and got a little more comfortable before you opened the texts awaiting your attention.

‘_heya kiddo,’_ The first one read. It was Sans’ usual greeting text, and it almost always was the prelude to something brilliantly terrible.

‘_what do you call a canine magician?’_

‘_a **labracadabrador**’_

Ah, the first joke of the day. The horridness of such a lame joke made you crack a grin, as always, but you had very little energy to full-out laugh; even if it was to yourself. The fact you were still waking up a bit also had a factor in the lack of audible mirth.

Instead, your tired mind urged you to sluggishly type out something you’d wanted to ask Sans for for some time now; something _other _than about the distorted man you also hadn’t seen for a month and honestly didn’t have the energy to think about for long most days.

_Can you come over?_

Your thumb hovered over the send button for what seemed like an eternity. You desperately wanted to see Sans, but you didn’t have any legitimate reasons that could override whatever was driving him to stay away from you.

Sighing when the reasonable portion of your brain decided to step in, you deleted the text and opted to send a different one. _‘So how are you holding up today?’_

You’d almost dozed back off in the time it took for Sans to text back.

Much to your surprise, he’d responded to your question with a picture.

It depicted what looked like a bar with some other monsters mingling in the background, and the skeleton himself was at the forefront with two hotdogs and a bottle of ketchup balanced atop his head.

The caption below it simply read: _‘__sturdy__’_

The ungodly snort that erupted from you proceeded to morph into a fit of exhausted laughter and you found yourself sitting up. You glanced around to see what you had within reach, noting that it wasn’t much. Papyrus had done an excellent job in picking up after you when he was over earlier that morning.

Unfortunately, that meant that you had to drag yourself to your feet to stumble around and collect a few things before you could flop back into bed.

You lay down and dumped a box of tissues, unopened ramen cup, Tupperware of leftover spaghetti, and your own bottle of ketchup haphazardly around your head. Placing a plastic cup over your forehead, lip-down, was the finishing touch before you sent your own picture.

‘_Good to know that at least one of us is lol’_

You got a laughing emoji for all of your efforts, but didn’t hear anything more than that from Sans. It was the usual, sadly, and your chest ached in that strange sort of sorrow that always accompanied the sting of loneliness.

More sleep was next on the schedule. It would help you forget the loneliness you were feeling, and hopefully you would have a bit more energy the next time you woke up. Maybe you’d even have a visit from Toriel, Asgore, Alphys, or Undyne today...

Actually, Undyne was on bodyguard duty at another conference with Frisk, Papyrus, and Asgore. You didn’t know if Alphys was with them today, and Toriel was currently overseeing the construction of a school where both human and monster children could study and learn about one another in a safe environment, so it was unlikely you would see any of them until late evening.

Definitely more sleep until then.

Or food.

…Food, then more sleep.

You probably shouldn’t be eating in bed, let alone something like a cold slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie, but fatigue called for not caring much. Papyrus would have had a cow if he’d been there to see you do it, though. Sweet cinnamon roll skeleton did his best to really, truly take care of you when he visited.

The ding of an alert on your phone had you pausing before you could finish the last bite of pie, making you lazily flop over in order to reach the device. It hadn’t made the sound of a text or missed call, so...

Oh, someone purchased the last macrame amethyst pendant you’d made, as well as three opalite bracelets! All four products were for the same buyer as well and that would save you a load on postage, too!

A grin split your face and you scurried up from your mattress once more, albeit with a little more energy this time around. This meant things wouldn’t be _too _tight for the upcoming rent and that lessened the burden of your stress, if only a little. Some stress relief was better than no stress relief.

The products were easy to locate in your barely organized box of crafts, but you had to search a little harder for a suitably-sized package to place them in.

You took great care in wrapping each item in pillows of bubble wrap to ensure that they had less of a chance of being broken during the delivery process. Even tired, you felt pretty proud of yourself for managing to get it done in a timely manner. All that was left was to get it shipped as soon as possible.

However, seeing as Papyrus and Frisk wouldn’t be back until tomorrow (which was a Saturday and the post office might be closed by then), you would have to wait until Monday. That wasn’t too bad in terms of waiting, but...

No matter how hard you tried to resist the urge and simply rest, you soon found yourself getting dressed and heading out the door with your package in hand. You put one ear bud in and began scrolling through the list of songs on your phone as you took your time walking down the stairs.

The post office wasn’t too far of a walk, so you should be alright if you took it nice and slow and didn’t overexert yourself.

Hitting shuffle on the songs, Raj Ramayya’s _Strangers_ popped up.

“Huh, forgot I had that song on here,” You muttered and let it play. It was a bit of a sombre song in a way, but that was alright with you. The tune was familiar and one you still knew well enough that it turned into the perfect background noise to help ease any potential anxiety.

It was a pleasant day, although there weren’t many people outside given how it was after the lunch rush hour. That meant a nice, peaceful walk as you strolled past small businesses and restaurants. The few monsters and humans you came across greeted you or smiled as you passed them, leaving you feeling a little more refreshed each time.

Maybe all you needed for the past month was just a little fresh air?

“Hey,” A voice calling out from your left had you slowing to a stop a little under half way to the post office.

You turned, seeing someone leaning at an odd angle just inside of the alleyway. It was a human man, and you immediately grew concerned by the way he was holding himself, taking out your ear bud and entering the alleyway to get a better look at him. “Are you alright? Do you need any help?”

“You’re that human that moved here last month, aren’t you?” The guy asked, lifting his head as he exhaled smoke from a partially bent cigarette.

“...I am,” You confirmed slowly, grip on your package growing tight as your gut began to twist deep within. He certainly looked like he was alright now that you could see him better, and that somehow worried you more than when you thought he needed help.

You should have ignored him and just kept walking.

“Are you alright?” You repeated, trying not to go into panic mode over something that could just be a curious guy taking a smoke break.

“You a monster lover?” He countered your question with one of his own and the question itself threw you off guard for a moment.

“What?” The word was reflexive in your startled confusion. You flinched in the next second when the package you’d been carrying diligently was slapped out of your hands with enough force that it skittered across the sidewalk. You bristled, fearing for the state of the goods you spent so long taking care to safely wrap and feeling anger starting to bubble up from within. “Hey! What the hell, asshole!?”

“I asked you a question,” The man snapped. He stood up straight, dropping the cigarette butt and snuffing it out with one worn boot as he locked a glare onto you. “You a monster lover or not?”

Oh yeah, you were simmering with ire now and in no condition to keep yourself in check like you usually would.

You bristled further, eyes narrowing and hands slowly forming fists at your sides while you visibly seethed. “Not that it’s any of your _fucking_ business, but as a matter of fact, I _am_ pro-monster.”

“Yeah, you _look_ like a fuckin’ monster lover, alright,” He sneered down at you in disgust and your brain was quick to translate your temper into your words that were overriding the brain-to-mouth filter like a flooding lake overflowing a worn down dam.

“And _you_ look like a load that should have been swallowed,” You growled, only to stop and take in a deep breath before folding your arms over your chest. “Are we done here? I have better things to do than play with someone who clearly needs to go see a doctor for such a severe case of Cranial Rectumitis.”

It was the man’s turn to stiffen up at the insult he didn’t entirely understand, which only served to piss him off to the point of shouting. “What the hell is that supposed to mean!?”

“It means get your head out of your ass and stop needlessly hating monsters just because they’re different!” You shouted back while baring your teeth. You were going to feel bad later about letting your hot head get the better of you, but that was _later_ and you had an anti-monster shithead to verbally tear asunder _right now_.

An anti-monster shithead that pulled out and snapped open a switchblade in response to your fury.

Well now, this was a first. You were now being held a knife point, anger quickly pushed aside by fear as the blade glinted menacingly in the alleyway’s ambient lighting. _Who the hell still carries switchblades on them these days?_

“Got anything else to say, smartass?” He asked lowly, waving the blade back and forth slowly.

“Oh, I have plenty to say. Doesn’t mean your tiny little brain will understand any of it though,” You retorted, the words leaving your mouth before you had a chance to stop yourself from mouthing off when you had a weapon pointed right at you.

The same weapon that was jabbed in the direction of your neck as threateningly as possible.

_I just had to open my big fat mouth...!_ You mentally kicked yourself, swallowing hard against the lump in your throat and keeping your expression hardened. You weren’t going to give this guy the satisfaction of seeing how scared you were.

“And what about _now?_” He saw how you eyed the blade cautiously, taking a step toward you with hunched shoulders.

You refused to give in to the urge to match him by taking a step back. “_Get bent._”

That was it. That was the final nail in your coffin, spat as venomously as you could manage with as defiant a glare as you could pull off.

You knew the knife was coming before he even swung it.

The urgency to defend yourself had you stumbling backwards, something in your chest trying desperately to pull up with your arms as you very nearly lost your balance while trying to cover your face. You would have actually fallen if you hadn’t been steadied by what felt like multiple hands coming to brace your back.

There was no looking to see if anyone was behind you, although a lack of bumping into a body was proof enough that you could have simply imagined the moment of assistance.

You’d barely dodged the first swing of the blade, but the guy was coming at you a second time.

You avoided that slash as well, stumbling back and steadying yourself once more without any more aide of unseen forces. Unfortunately, trying to step out of stabbing range the third time sent you sprawling onto the ground of the alleyway.

The man was still coming for you and all you could do was curl in on yourself and pray that it all ended quickly.

You waited for the sting of a blade slicing into your flesh, and felt...

...Nothing?

Cracking open one eye, then the other, you peered up with just as much confusion as you could see on your attacker’s face. The man’s confusion became clear when you dared a glance up at the blade in his hand.

The knife was frozen feet above your head in mid-air, encased in a soft blue light.

“woah there, pal.”

A calm voice drew your focus to the entrance of the alleyway. You could have cried from the relief you felt upon seeing that it was Sans standing there, one hand hanging at his side. You also caught a brief glimpse of a tall dark figure looming behind him.

“don’t you know that it’s dangerous to run with sharp objects?” Sans asked, wearing his usual grin. Said grin seemed to darken when the skeleton let his head drop forward slightly and closed his right eye. “_someone might get hurt._”

Scowling and abandoning his knife, your attacker ran for it. Sans let him go with a shrug of his shoulders as he strolled further into the alleyway. The figure was no longer behind him.

“won’t be needing this.” Sans raised the hand that was previously limp at his side to show that it was also glowing blue, the knife floating to close itself before it dove into the nearest trash bin. You watched this in awe before remembering that you needed to get up off the ground.

Still breathing heavy from the previous fright, you struggled to push yourself up. You had to use the nearest wall to rise to your feet as you thought about how close you just were to potentially being stabbed to death by some racist stranger because you were too stubborn to keep your mouth shut when you were upset.

The image of that knife swinging towards you flashed within your mind and your entire body gave out the moment it did. Chest beginning to burn, you suddenly couldn’t think straight.

“woah, woah—easy!” Sans rushed to support you with his smaller frame to keep you from crumpling to the dirty concrete when it was clear that you wouldn’t be able to hold yourself up, even with one hand against the wall. A faint zip of electricity shot through you at the point of the contact of his hands on your back and stomach.

Normally, you would have marvelled at the kinetic feeling or Sans’ strength to keep your plump body upright without the use of any muscles, as you continued to do with Papyrus, but the pain in your chest stole any chance you had to focus on anything else.

The pain in your _glowing_ chest.

“crap you’re about to have another burst,” Sans muttered, albeit mostly to himself as he looked you over. “look, (y/n), you need to focus on steadying your breathing right now.”

You could hear him well enough, could understand what he was saying, but you just couldn’t _focus_.

A bony hand pat your cheek a few times, sending ripples of electricity through your skin. “(y/n)? (y/n)!”

“I’m not _deaf,_ Sans...” You could barely speak and wished that your words hadn’t come out so irritable in tone, but you honestly couldn’t help it. Your pulse was so loud and so damn _painful_.

“c’mon, kid, i know it’s hard, but you _have_ to calm yourself back down or you’ll have another soul burst. you don’t want go through that mess again, do you?” Sans asked, still supporting you as best he could. You were feeling more energy flowing into you from where you leaned against him, but it only made your chest hurt more.

“No.” You shook your head slowly, gritting your teeth as the fire in your chest began to leak into your veins. “I don’t want to worry everyone again...!”

You thought you caught Sans utter a ‘you’re worrying the hell outta _me_ right now, kid,’ under his breath, but weren’t too sure. Your chest was still throbbing; still pulsating a tender powder blue like a small, heart-shaped star...

A star you could feel fast approaching going supernova.

“hey, c’mon, look at me.” Sans’ hands cupped your face to coax you into lifting your head and take in the blurred image of his face. He was smiling as reassuringly as he could, but it was just to cover up the concern you could see twinkling in his sockets so vibrantly. “it’ll be fine. you’re safe now.”

“Sans...” Knowing you were causing this made you feel more guilt than you could handle, the radiant light you were emitting amplifying significantly. You choked slightly when the pain amplified as well.

“shit, this isn’t working...!” The skeleton hissed, the urgency in his tone radiating from his tense body language.

_"̧͝Y͞o̢u͠ kn̴͏ǫw͢ ̵͘w̷̡hat̴͟ ̶̕y̷o̡̕͜u͠ ͠͠m̵u͏s͞͠t͜ ̴̡͢d͡͝͏o,̕ ҉San͝͝s̢̛.̴̡͟ Q͘u̸i͏c̸͞k̨͡l͘y̶̛ ̵͝͠n̸̷o̵͝w͢!"͘_

You heard Sans trying not to panic, not registering the wisp along your neurons that was a second voice that was neither you nor the skeleton’s. You just desperately wanted to apologize for being so pathetic and causing him concern, except something happened that prevented you from doing so.

Arms wrapping around you, your head coming to rest against a shoulder, and a fluttering pulse that wasn’t your own brought an immediate calm through your overloading system. Phalanges slipping through your unkempt hair brought you further into a relaxed, but exhausted, state.

_Sans was **hugging** you._

You were too fatigued to feel much in terms of more shock at the moment. The glowing and pain in your chest gradually subsided as you were unable to refrain from growing slack against Sans’ smaller body.

“I’m sorry...” You muttered once you felt you were able to speak. You couldn’t bring yourself to open your eyes just yet.

“you don’t have to apologize, kid,” Sans chuckled out in what must have been relief. He was rubbing your back now and you almost felt like a child again. “anyone would be upset after having to go through what you just did. there’s still some real jerks in this city, unfortunately, but they aren’t usually that aggressive.”

You couldn’t help but huff at this. “Must be the ‘_come __pick a fight with me_’ aura I inherited acting up again. People either like me or torment me if they don’t.”

“nah, people like that just can’t stand seeing anybody being happier than they are,” Sans replied. He let you retreat reluctantly from his embrace, steadying you as you struggled to your feet. “easy, kid.”

“I know, I know,” You murmured, bringing a hand to your lightless, but aching, chest. “My package...”

“i got it,” Sans said after glancing around to see what you were talking about. Sure enough, your package was a few feet away from where you’d fallen to the ground in a bid to avoid your attacker.

“Sorry,” You apologized once more while he retrieved the battered package for you.

Sans handed you your package, speaking lightly. “hey now, didn’t i just say you didn’t need to apologize?”

“Yeah, but...” You tried to express the guilt you were feeling, only to sway when you took a step forward on your own. Sans was immediately at your side once more, keeping you from potentially falling.

“we need to get you somewhere you can rest for a while. thankfully you weren't hurt by that jerk.” Sans readjusted himself against your side as he hummed lightly in thought. Soon enough, however, he was grinning again to try and keep you from seeing just how worried he was. “come on; i know a shortcut to a place.”

You let the stout skeleton lead you further down the alleyway, confused but putting your trust in him as you were led into a particularly dark area.

A light gust tickling your face and hair, accompanied by a strange sound, and you found yourself walking into what looked like the bar—_pub—_from Sans’ earlier photo. All you could do was blink as your confusion only grew tenfold.

“I—what—_how_—” You stammered and failed to find the appropriate words.

“welcome to grillby’s.” Sans said, not even bothering to explain anything about how you went from an alleyway to a pub in a matter of seconds. You got the feeling that this was typical for him.

The patrons of the pub all greeted you and Sans with quite the amount of enthusiasm, although most asked the skeleton about him having been there not long before. Sans merely played it off as an everyday occurrence while he helped you to the bar and up onto one of the few stools that had a backrest on it.

“you good?” He asked as he watched you slump against the bartop on folded arms.

“Much better now that I can sit,” You replied. Your chest still hurt a bit, but being able to rest like this was already working wonders on your poor, aching body. Everything in your mind seemed oddly at peace with the world now, despite what you’d just gone through moments before.

You didn’t have a clue as to how you were going to thank Sans for saving your sorry butt and taking you somewhere safe. This thought, however, was pushed aside when you noticed a monster made out of pure fire approaching you on the other side of the bar. To say you were amazed at the mere sight of him was an understatement.

_How much cooler can monsters get?_ You would have sniggered to yourself at that if you had the energy.

“Five minutes,” This monster said once he was close enough. His voice was low and crackled with his flames. “That’s a new record for you, Sans.”

“yeah, well, you know me,” Sans chuckled. He hadn’t sat down, simply standing beside you while he motioned to the monster behind the bar. “(y/n), this is grillby. grillby, meet (y/n).”

“A pleasure,” The elemental monster greeted in that unbelievably pleasant voice of his.

“Likewise,” You managed to return his greeting with a weary smile, taking the opportunity to open the package to check that nothing was broken. Thankfully everything looked to be in one piece, although you’d need to retape the package before you could send it.

“hate to ask this, grillbz, but you think you can look after them for me while i pop down to the post office?” Sans asked as he turned his attention to Grillby. Grillby merely gave a silent nod in response to the question he had been presented.

“You don’t have to do that for me, Sans...!” You were quick protest this sudden development, only to have a blue hoodie draped over your shoulders before a bony hand ruffled your hair.

“don’t worry about it, kiddo. this ain’t no _skin off my back_.” He held his hands up, closing one eye as he took his chance to lighten your mood a little with his brilliantly horrible humor.

You couldn’t help it when his joke made you laugh with what little energy you had left. “Stars, you’re terrible.”

“yup. absolutely _tibia-ble_.” Sans took the package, offering you his trademark grin to ease any of your worries. “you rest up. i’ll be right back.”

You relinquished the package to the skeleton without much more protest, promising yourself that you absolutely _would_ pay Sans back for all of his kindness. You just had to figure out things that he liked. “Be safe.”

“will do,” Sans replied before strolling out of the pub. You sighed through your nose and slumped back against bar. A nap sounded fantastic right about now, but you knew it would have to wait until you got back to your apartment. Then you could also figure out a way to keep the fact that you were almost stabbed on the down-low after you went to the police. Frisk and Papyrus didn’t need to know about something as bad as an attack with a knife in some alleyway.

You could just tell them that you got into an argument and leave out the knife aspect altogether if it came up? Ugh, thinking right now only made your head start to throbbing angrily.

“Would you like anything to drink while you wait?” Grillby asked suddenly. You hadn’t realized you’d closed your eyes at some point until he had.

“Water would be nice...” You answered, having taken a few seconds to think about what you might want. Some water would do you good right now.

“Sorry, but I don’t touch the stuff,” Grillby deadpanned. You looked up, silent for a long moment as your tired brain tried to compute what he might have meant.

...Oh.

_Oh!_

A faint smile pulled at the corners of your mouth when it finally registered that it was pretty obvious a monster made of fire couldn’t touch water. Despite his joke, Grillby was able to procure a tall glass of ice water for you. You didn’t care that the ice was mostly melted by the time he set the cup in front of you.

He’d even put a bendy straw and a tiny umbrella into the glass, which made you give a full smile as you thanked him. He nodded when you gave your heartfelt thanks.

For some reason, as you attempted not to doze off while waiting for Sans’ return, a thought of the distorted man popped up into your head. You still hadn’t bothered trying to talk to Sans about this particular topic.

It had been mainly due to Sans staying away for so long, as well as your declined health.

You idly traced unknown patterns onto the bartop with the condensation from your glass while you debated on bringing up the distorted man when or not when Sans returned.

For the sake of not chasing Sans off, you decided to hold back for a little while longer. Today had been stressful enough for the both of you. You wondered if Sans was telling anyone about what had happened while he was out, hoping that he wasn’t.

Grillby was setting down a small plate of mild, breaded jalapeño poppers for you to snack on when Sans popped back up.

“got the package all taken care of,” The skeleton grunted as he slid onto the stool to your right and also slumped against the bartop. You two must have certainly looked like quite the pair, sitting hunched over together like you were.

“How much was it?” You asked, fishing your wallet out of your pocket.

“no need to pay me back. it’s on me.” Sans waved his hand idly, motioning you to keep your money.

“Sans,” You couldn’t help but whine. The kindness of others could only go so far before you started feeling like a cheat and a burden. “You’ve done more than enough for me today. Let me at least pay you back for the cost of the package.”

Sans glanced at you from his peripheral, looking as if he wanted nothing more than to take a nap, too. “if you really wanna pay me back, you can buy me a burger.”

“Deal,” You agreed to his terms, ordering two burgers and a fresh bottle of ketchup. The meal was surprisingly cheap, but exceptionally delicious. The burgers were pretty greasy, though.

“so,” Sans began slowly once his meal was settled...wherever his stomach was. If he _had_ a stomach; you didn’t see any food falling to the floor from under his shirt, leaving you curious but currently silent on that particular subject. You were more focused on what Sans had to say to you. “what happened earlier? was the guy trying to mug you?”

“No. He just demanded to know if I was a ‘monster lover’. His words, not mine,” You explained between drinking the rest of your water.

“and...?” Sans urged you to continue, which you didn’t hesitate to do. After all, there was no need to hide anything from your savior.

“I told him the truth,” You replied honestly. “I’m pro-monster, all the way.” You hadn’t noticed how some monsters that were eavesdropping looked to each other with large smiles.

“that hardly seems enough to have a knife pulled on you.” Sans was frowning, showing just how malleable the bones of his face were.

“Well, I _may_ have let my temper get the best of me and told him to pull his head out of his ass.” You admitted this with a faint blush coming to your cheeks, gaze averting in the process of your confession.

Sans lightened back up and merely chuckled at your clear embarrassment. “you’re lucky toriel ain’t here to hear that kind of language, kid.”

“What, does she carry that swear jar around in her handbag?” You asked, curious and highly amused at the mental image of the former Queen of monsters carrying a handbag for the sole purpose of keeping her swear jar with her at all times.

“as funny as that’d be, no. she just has one hell of a disapproving mom look going for her. she could bring down entire _nations_ with that look.” Sans explained, leaning against the bartop once more. You weren’t sure who was more fatigued at this point; you or him.

“No kidding. Goat mom extraordinaire,” You chuckled. A thought struck you, one you were eager to voice. “By the way, what was that glowing blue light that stopped the knife from reaching me? Was that your magic?”

“yup. don’t mention it to anyone though, alright? us monsters aren’t really supposed to be using our magic out in public right now.” Ah, that was right. You heard that monsters had magic, but there was a temporary law in place that they couldn’t just use their powers willy-nilly. Even so, a bunch of humans were still afraid of their abilities. You, on the other had, were thankful that monsters had such a gift.

Actually, to tell the truth, you were a _little_ jealous. You also now knew that you couldn't go to the police and risk getting Sans fined for his use of magic.

“My lip are sealed,” You assured him, grimacing after staying this and having to lift your hand to rub at your right temple gingerly. Your headache was coming back, Sans seeing this in your behavior.

“welp,” Sans hopped down from his stool and stretched, offering you a hand. “lets get you home. pap’ll lecture me into next week if i let you stumble back alone in a state like this.”

“Did you text him about what happened?” You asked in mild concern, handing him his hoodie while you got down and stood on your own far better than you were able to when you were first brought into Grillby’s. That was one positive, but you were still worried about the others finding out what happened.

Papyrus _was_ with Frisk at another conference still, but, knowing him as well as you did now, you had no doubt that the conference would be cut short just for your friends to rush back and fret over you in person. Papyrus and Frisk would also most likely assign themselves as your personal guard whenever you wanted to leave your house. You didn’t want to burden them like that.

“nah. i was going to wait until he got back from the conference before landing a whopper like that on him. you know how he can get, and of course frisk’ll find out as well since those two are practically joined at the hip.”

“Good. I don’t want to needlessly worry them, so they really shouldn’t know the part where I had a knife pulled on me. I just got into a not-so-friendly disagreement that ended in you coming to my rescue.” You shifted uneasily on your feet and smiled down at him. “Thank you for that, Sans. I mean it.”

“hey, what are friends for?”

Your chest immediately squeezed at how he said those words.

Sans called you his friend. Did that mean he wouldn’t keep avoiding you from now on? You certainly hoped so...

You payed for your meal, getting quite the farewell from the other patrons of Grillby’s pub on your way out the door. Grillby himself even told you that you were welcome back any time. This left you on a far higher note than the earlier, spurning you into insisting on walking on your own as you and Sans headed back to your apartment.

The headache was a pain to deal with while walking, but you tried to take it in your stride until the dizziness set it. You were forced to rely on Sans to keep you moving in the last stretch of your walk to the complex.

The reality of your earlier attack must have decided to finally settle in, but it didn’t bring sorrow or anxiety. You instead felt more than a little ashamed at how useless you were in protecting yourself, but you were thankful to be alive. Sans had truly saved you today.

And, much to your absolute delight, Sans actually stayed once you reached your apartment.

It ended up being a good thing when you realized that you’d had a mild fever for some time and it was stepping up a few notches. You tried to play it off as much as you could manage and refused to go to a doctor unless you were dying, but as it turned out?

Sans was as much of a worrier as his brother.

He had you change into some sleep wear before ushering you into bed and whipping out a book to read to you from out of nowhere. When your fever worsened a short time later, Sans had a cool damp cloth lined up. He’d even called up Alphys for some advice, not giving her all of the details leading up to your decline but mentioning the close call with your soul trying to fire off again.

You don’t know how long the skeleton stayed by your side, cooling the washcloth back down with cold tap water whenever it got too warm for his liking as you both waited for Alphys to show up.

You were fairly certain this fever was stress-induced. Probably from not dealing with the shock of being attacked, and the fever was quick to start to addle your thoughts. Well, all but one that your self-loathing latched onto like shit on velcro.

“Hey Sans...?” You said softly, finding misplaced courage thanks to not thinking straight. If you had been in the right state of mind, you wouldn’t have asked what you were about to. “Do you hate me...?”

“hate you? what makes you think that i hate you?” He asked, the shock clear on his face. Sans honestly didn’t understand where this came from so suddenly, seeing as he thought you’d fallen asleep before then.

“You’ve been avoiding me, so I must have done something to upset you. I’m really sorry...” You apologized and almost felt like you wanted to cry from the frustration of not knowing what you were exactly apologizing for.

“hey, don’t apologize; you haven’t done anything wrong! i’ve just...been really busy!” Sans exclaimed, waving his hands about.

You squinted at him, scrutinizing every inch of his nervous expression for a few seconds before you huffed and looked away with a pained expression. “...You’re a terrible liar.”

Sans slowly lowered his hands, letting them drop to his lap uselessly.

“you can tell that, huh?” Sans sighed, muttering under his breath, “guess i shouldn’t be surprised, considering...” You tilt your head in confusion, making Sans sigh a second time while reaching out to readjust the wash cloth threatening to slip off of your forehead. “you haven’t done anything wrong, kid. honestly. this is all on me.”

“Then why stay away for so long...?” You pressed, unable to hide the desperation for the truth.

Sans scrubbed his hand down his face. He should have seen this conversation coming, but it had slipped his mind with everything that had happened, what with finding you about to be stabbed by another human in some alleyway.

Yes, Sans should have known that he couldn’t run from this forever; not when you were sick right now. Sick and pleading for an answer.

He tried to find the right words to say to explain his reason, to find the right way to tell you why he’d been nothing but a massive coward for a month straight. You didn’t deserve to be treated like this by anyone, let alone someone like him, and yet he still...

“the truth is, i...”

The words refused to come out, and Sans hated himself for it.

As if the heavens could no longer bear to witness such a thing, a frantic knock sounded from the front door. Sans couldn’t be any more thankful for the distraction as he went to answer it.

“I-I came as quickly as I could!” Alphys exclaimed, running past Sans and immediately to where you had your mattress and box spring set up on the floor against the far wall of your bedroom. “W-wow, yeah, y-you’re really not doing well, a-are you?”

“It’s just a bit of a fever,” You murmured, not able to find it in you to smile upon seeing another one of your friends. It looked like you wouldn’t be getting an answer from Sans any time soon, now.

Alphys remained at a steady level of panicked as she began to unpack her SOUL monitor. “Sans s-said that you almost had a s-second soul burst today, s-so I’m going to scan your soul again. I-is that alright?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” You reassured her as best you could without forcing yourself to laugh or smile.

Alphys must have had you hooked up to the machine in record time, jotting down the results in a little notebook she brought with her. The silence as she worked was palpably tense.

“Th-the readings are practically identical to when I last scanned you. Other than some stress, y-your soul is still within the acceptable parameters of optimal health.” Alphys sat back on her heels after a while, a deep frown marring her features. “B-but that still doesn’t explain why you haven’t recovered y-yet...”

She was right; it _didn’t _explain your lack of progress in the recovery department and that worried you enough to speak up about it. “Then what do we do? I can’t live the rest of my life like this...”

The only answer you got was an uneasy silence on uncertainty.

“i think we need to check the body-to-soul wavelength synchronizations,” Sans spoke up suddenly, not looking like his usual laid back self after he’d been thinking so hard.

Alphys, on the other hand, looked as if she just had an epiphany. She scrambled for the second bag she’d brought with her, talking almost too fast for you to follow while she began pulling out tools. “I-I-I didn’t even _think _of that! I-I can recalibrate it for that function, b-but it may take a little while...!”

“here, let me. i can get in done in a few minutes.” Sans said when he saw Alphys fumbling in her rush.

“A-are you sure, Sans?” She asked, although she was hardly reluctant to hand over the screwdriver and scoot aside so Sans could reach the SOUL monitor.

Sans chuckled lightly, pulling off the back of the machine and looking it over for a moment. “hey now, i may be a bit rusty, but i can still manage this much.”

“Well, i-if you say so...” Alphys verbally relented and pushed her bag of tools closer to Sans. Unfortunately, all she ended up doing after this was sitting there while clearly feeling like a turd in a punch bowl.

“Hey Alphys?” You called out to her, albeit a little too weak for your liking, “Do you have anything to check my temperature with? I don’t own a functioning thermometer...”

“O-oh, yes, o-of course!” She retrieved a strange looking thermometer from her little bag of tricks and cleaned it up for use. “N-now, this one was made for Frisk, s-so it doesn’t measure temperature _and_ magic like regular monster thermometers do.”

Huh, you’d have to ask the specifics about that later. If you remembered to, anyway.

You temperature was 101 flat, Alphys getting you a glass of water to battle the dehydration you might be experiencing. Sans was done with the machine by the time you got half the glass down. None of you were sure what to expect with the readings from the altered function, least of all you.

“I-Incredible,” Alphys exhaled, staring wide-eyed at the results in front of her. “Th-the wavelengths are still within normal parameters of good health, y-yet they really _aren’t_ synchronized. I-it’s only off by a slight margin, b-but it’s no wonder you haven’t recovered yet!”

“alright, now how do we go about fixing something like this in a human?” Sans asked, not giving you the chance to ask the question yourself. Which, given the fever, was probably for the best at the moment.

“W-well, we know that monster souls can fix a problem like this themselves over time as long as they’re in close proximity to other monsters that have s-steady, _stable_ body-to-soul wavelengths. P-perhaps a human can as well?” Alphys looked to Sans.

“paps and Frisk come over every day, and other monsters and the landlords come by now and again, but (y/n) hasn’t gotten any better,” Sans pointed out, quite serious about the topic at hand.

“Th-that’s true...” Alphys muttered, clasping her hands in front of her as she wracked her brain. You couldn’t help but think that the two almost looked like lab partners while they brainstormed together, as strange as that sounded. “M-maybe the exposure hasn’t been long enough for a human?”

Sans was silent for a moment, hand over his mouth as he thought long and hard. Soon, however, he was grinning his usual languid grin again. “i have an idea.”

That idea of his?

Well, given that it was technically the weekend now...

“Sleepover!!!” Frisk cheered as they ran in through the open front door and practically tackled you’re seated from with a hug. You fell back onto your floor with a grunted laugh, ruffling Frisk’s hair affectionately. You were thanking the stars that your fever had broken and gone down in the time it took for Sans to execute his plan.

“I BROUGHT EVERYTHING WE WILL NEED; INCLUDING A BOOK ON HOW TO HAVE A PROPER SLEEPOVER!” Papyrus exclaimed, following Frisk into your apartment. The difference between the two was that the tall skeleton was carrying quite the number of sleeping bags on his back, along with a backpack.

You, Sans, Alphys, and even Toriel (after she rushed over to check on you the moment Sans told her what happened) decided to keep today’s little incident to yourselves, at least for the time being. A sleepover was supposed to be fun and not a time of a worried child and a large overprotective skeleton going mother hen worse than he had been when it came to taking care of you every day.

“You’ve had sleepovers before, ya nerd,” Undyne teased, appearing behind Papyrus with a large sleeping bag under one arm.

“YES, BUT THAT WAS ONLY WITH _ONE_ HUMAN!” Papyrus stated matter-of-factly in that adorable way he always managed to do.

“Why am _I_ involved?” Flowey demanded from Papyrus’ right arm, as grumpy as always.

“because every party needs a pooper, that’s why we invite you,” Sans replied, ignoring the dark scowl he got from the flower in return.

“C’mon Sans, be nice to Flowey,” Frisk pouted from where they were still clinging to you. Sans merely shrugged from where he stood at the open door with Toriel.

“I baked a pie for you all to share,” Toriel explained as she put down Frisk’s sleepover bag. “Now Frisk, I don’t want you staying up any later than ten, and I don’t want you eating any junk food. Also, remember to brush your teeth, and _no_ using Undyne’s spears as baseball bats this time, please.”

“Alright, mom,” Frisk agreed, getting up just to give their mother a tight hug.

Toriel looked to you as you also got up, though to take the pie she'd mentioned. She let you, but stopped you with a single hand upon your shoulder. “Is there anything you need before I go, (Y/n)?"

“No, thank you,” You responded politely with a soft smile.

“Well in that case, I shall let you crazy kids get on with your night.” Toriel laughed, giving you a one-armed hug before bidding you all farewell for the evening.

Frisk immediately pulled out their cellphone the moment the front door was closed.

“Pizza?” Undyne asked with a knowing smirk. She’d sat down and pulled a blushing Alphys into her lap like the smaller monster was as light as a paperclip.

“Pizza.” Frisk confirmed, completely deadpan as they called the nearest pizza joint.

Papyrus, the sweet bean that he was, was not pleased to hear this. “B-BUT LADY ASGORE SAID—!”

“it’s a sleepover, bro,” Sans interjected, flopping down onto the floor next to Frisk. “breaking a rule or two is practically mandatory. right, alphys?”

“O-oh no, y-you aren’t dragging me into this one!” Alphys was still bright red in the face, but seemed quite content to be held like a teddy bear by her girlfriend. The pair were so perfect together that it was positively cavity-inducing.

“Don’t worry, Papyrus; we can always get a healthy pizza,” You said, putting the pie away in the fridge for later consumption. While your energy levels were still low, you wanted to get out your spare blankets what few pillows you had so the others didn’t just have sleeping bags to keep warm with.

“...They make _healthy_ pizzas?” Undyne asked incredulously, chin resting atop Alphys’ head as her single eye watched you trudge over to the pile of boxes and gift baskets taking up the space of nearly a third of your living room.

You paused for a moment at her question. “Well...healthy-_ish_.”

“WHAT MAKES A PIZZA UNHEALTHY?” Papyrus asked with genuine curiosity, finally unloading his mess of sleeping bags onto the the center of the living room floor.

“an _ill-mannered_ delivery,” Sans was quick to joke, making everyone other than Flowey and Papyrus laugh in one way or another.

“SANS, I SWEAR, IF YOU MAKE PUNS ALL NIGHT—” Papyrus started, clearly not willing to put up with a sleepover full of nothing but terrible puns. For one thing, that wasn’t what the sleepover book said to do!

Given your lower energy levels, everyone did their best not to make things _too_ crazy.

Except for the game of extreme golf with small bones as the balls and Undyne’s spears as putters. _That_ was a pretty wild thing to witness.

“Are you going to stay?” You asked Sans at one point from over a lukewarm slice of pizza. The others were still golfing out your front door and into the empty parking lot, giving you the opportunity for a relatively quiet moment with the stout skeleton where you _weren’t_ just saved or under the influence of a fever.

Sans stopped in mid-bite of his own slice of pizza, studying your expectant expression. “...that depends on if you want me to, kiddo.”

“Of course I want you to,” You pouted. Having everyone there had given you enough energy to stay awake consistently, but your body still felt a little heavy. “I really missed you this past month; even if we don’t know each other that well yet...”

You looked away, feeling a little silly for admitting that you missed someone you barely knew. Sans, however, merely chuckled and set his half-eaten pizza slice down in the open box.

“guess we should change that then, huh? not knowing each other that well, i mean,” He said while leaning back on one hand.

“Well now, that depends on if you _want_ to,” You teased while managing to hide your grin.

“wow, someone is a bit of a brat, aren’t they?” Sans was equally as teasing as he’d caught on quick to your little game.

“_No_,” Came your sarcastically drawn out reply, followed quickly by a giggle that Sans echoed with an eased laugh.

You wanted to ask him again why he’d stayed away for so long, but you refrained when you recalled how Sans had struggled to say anything about it. The night didn’t need to become tense between you two. It could wait, along with the questions you still had about the distorted man. You needed to get healthy again first.

The night continued with Alphys pulling out her _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie_ game, everyone unable to completely agree on what to choose during certain events and starting up harmless arguments or debates. It was pretty funny, what with Alphys being the expert and trying to still get the good ending to the game despite acts of sabotage and mutiny that began to happen the further into the game you all got.

You were slowly gaining more and more energy the longer you interacted with everyone, but you also thought you occasionally heard soft laughter that didn’t belong to anyone in the room as your fatigue receded bit by bit. You played this off as still not being well, considering you got a strange tingling behind your eyes each time you ‘heard’ the humming chuckles.

Whatever your brain was coming up with, it usually left your mind the moment it stopped. You were, of course, having fun with your Ebott City friends. You even decided to video call one of your best friends living in a different state and introduced them to every one. They, of course, were thrilled to hear from you and didn't mind the monsters one bit.

All and all, the sleepover was a great success in terms of a good time full of stupid antics and long moments of laughter. You were even feeling better by the time you all settled down for bed a little after ten.

As you dozed off quite literally tucked between Frisk and Papyrus, you swore someone was humming a lullaby within the depths of your mind.


End file.
